Craftzine.com blog: Soft Circuits Archives

Archive: Soft Circuits

February 9, 2010

Turn Signal Bike Jackets

From Leah Buechley's photostream via the CRAFT Flickr pool, Leah shares: "on the steps of Shih Chien U, turn signals prototyped by me w/ parts from the taipei electronics markets & made by (awesome) Shih Chien University fashion students" in Taiwan.

More:

How-To: Make a Turn Signal Bike Jacket

February 4, 2010

In the Maker Shed: Conductive Booster Pack

In the Maker Shed:

The Conductive Booster Pack Kit is the perfect companion for our Fashioning Technology book by Syuzi Pakhchyan. The kit contains a collection of conductive materials that are often only available in much larger quantities, making it a more affordable way to sample various materials.

Features:

1/4 yard of conductive fabric

25 feet of conductive thread

2 feet of conductive tape

3 inches conductive hook and loop (you might call it Velcro, but we can't)

Coin Cell Battery

Assorted LEDs

More:

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January 28, 2010

Crochet Sensors

Hannah Perner-Wilson has been experimenting with various configurations of crochet sensors. The steel fibers in the conductive yarn change resistance when they are smushed or pulled, which can be read on a multimeter or fed to a microcontroller for controlling any number of circutis. Using the nuckle-positioned one, you could control a video game just by bending your fingers. Or maybe it senses that you're squeezing your baseball bat too hard, and encourages you to loosen your grip. This conductive yarn has some interesting implications for wearable electronics, I can't wait to see where it goes!

January 26, 2010

Motorized Quilt

This jumpy little LilyPad Arduino project called the Kinetic Quilt uses a servo motor to move around. For what purpose, Im not quite sure, but it sure made me react! [via MAKE]

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January 25, 2010

RFID Tags with Conductive Thread antennas

Matt Mets @ MAKE writes:

Here's an older project by Micah Dowty, that I just found out about: a homebrew soft circuit RFID tag. Not content to just make a homebrew RFID reader using a Propeller microcontroller, he proceeded to design an RFID tag using only an ATtiny85 microcontroller and an inductor, and built an antenna for it using conductive thread. The result: a completely homebrew RFID setup, which is compatible with EM4102-style RFID tags. Awesome!

An RFID tag is a passive (non-powered, in most cases) electronic device that stores information. It's how all those touch-based payment systems work. They're in your credit cards, passports, office key fobs, and are used as security devices on retail products. What's remarkable about this one is that it's actually embedded into the fabric, since the information is stored on the tiny chip, and the antenna, required to transmit the signal to the reader circuit, is sewn from conductive thread.

January 14, 2010

How-To: Stroke Sensor

Hannah Perner-Wilson shows us how to make this soft stroke sensor with conductive thread. This could be very cool embedded in a fuzzy rug or plush toy!

January 13, 2010

How-To: Evening Dress iPod Remote

If you ever need to remotely control your iPod while out at a fancy event, Aniomagic and Lynne Bruning show us how to sew a iPod remote into an evening dress.

January 12, 2010

Soft Circuit Workshop in SF with Grace Kim

NYU ITP alum Grace Kim will be running a soft circuit workshop at the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco:

Soft Circuit will cover basics of wearable technology. Workshop participants will be given a historical overview of wearables in the context of fashion, art, and technology. Instructor Grace Kim will share basic sewing and embroidery techniques and tips on how to repurpose everyday sewing procedure for use in wearables projects. Students will be given project-based instruction on basic circuitry and will construct soft circuits using conductive thread and fabric. No prior experience with electronics or sewing required. All materials and fees are included. Limited space available.

Soft Circuit Workshop: Grace Kim

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts

January 23rd, 30th, and February 6th 12pm-4pm

55 Taylor St. San Francisco, CA 94102

January 11, 2010

Neoprene LED Flashlight

Hannah Perner-Wilson made a neoprene pouch flashlight using conductive fabric and thread, some batteries, and an LED/switch combo to make a little squishy flashlight, and shows you how, too!

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CRAFT Video: Craft Meets Tech at MIT

January 8, 2010

Craft Meets Tech at MIT

In this week's CRAFT Video, come with me to the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There I met with e-textiles pioneer Leah Buechley and students from her research group called "High-Low Tech," which Leah describes as "blends" of technology with traditional crafts to make new toolkits for creativity and learning. I had so much fun checking out the amazingly brilliant and fun projects by Hannah Perner-Wilson, Emily Lovell, David Mellis, and Bonifaz Kaufmann, I had a hard time leaving!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, watch it on YouTube, Vimeo, Blip, or download the m4v video.

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January 5, 2010

Light-up Squid Quilt

Cheryl Sleboda wrote in with her awesome project:

I just wanted to drop a line to say thanks for the tutorials and info on Craft about LEDs and soft circuitry. I got a Make Conductive Booster Pack and used some blue LEDs to add to a mini quilt I made depicting a "cute" taningia danae squid! The real squid has bioluminescent properties, so it was a perfect subject on which to try out my soft circuit kit.

Cheryl is attempting a "technique a week" for 2010, which I think is just great. What's your first finished project of 2010? Share with us in the comments.

More:

Electronic Embroidery - CRAFT Video
Soft Circuit Merit Badge Merits Itself
Conductive Booster Pack in the Maker Shed
LED Sewing Kit

From the pages of CRAFT, Vol. 09:

"Electronic Embroidery" by Becky Stern, pgs 117-119. View now in our Digital Edition or by the back issue in the Maker Shed.

January 4, 2010

Stretch-Sensing Bracelet

Today I'm at the MIT Media Lab meeting with some of the most awesome folks in wearable technology, including Hannah Perner-Wilson, a grad student in the High Low Tech research group. She made the above stretch-sensitive bracelet, which uses conductive thread and resistive yarn to make an LED light up when the bracelet is stretched.

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