Idea + Coding

The idea for our project is that if the wearer is slouching, subtle lights on the sleeves will start to light up and pulsate, indicating to the wearer to straighten their posture. If the wearer ignores this first sign and stays in the slouching position for a long amount of time, more LEDs will start to light up and pulsate, which would become more noticeable to the wearer.

Today I modified some code from my previous project to work with the flex sensor that Anne lent us. I managed to get an LED to fade in and out if the bend value is under 70. Small, but significant progress!

The Garment

We figured that for our project, we would have two layers of clothing; the under layer with all the circuitry stitched to it, and the over layer to hide all of the circuitry and diffuse the lights. The under layer would be a tight fit so that the flex sensors can pick up accurate values along the back. The over layer woud be a bit baggy so you can't see the bumps of the circuitry attatched to the inner layer.

Gathering Materials

Xanthe and I have talked about what materials we need in order to put together this project. We've told Craig to put us down for 4 flex sensors in the class order that he is organising from Sparkfun. Xanthe has ordered some LEDs from Farnell and we went shopping yesterday for some tops that we could use for this project.

Brainstorming Ideas

Xanthe and I were brainstorming some more possible ideas for this project. In the end we came up with a posture correction shirt. When the wearer is slouching, they would get an indication, perhaps on the sleeve, to say that they are slouching, which would tell them that they need to correct their posture. We were thinking of using a flex sensor to get values from the arch of the back when slouching.

Video of Lady Luminance

Lady Luminance

Inspired by Lady Gaga’s outrageous fashions, Lady Luminance is at first glance, an elaborate headpiece, but when activated, becomes an interesting lightshow on the head. If one wanted to wow the crowd, Lady Luminance is the way to go.

Lady Luminance has a built in light sensor which determines how fast the lights flash. If worn in a well lit room, the lights will change and illuminate the flowers in the headpiece in a slow and subtle way. However, if worn in a dark room, the lights would cycle through quickly, which is when the real excitement begins. In the dark is where one can see the full beauty of this piece, with each flower glowing brightly and changing colours in a fast, pulsating way. It is a perfect accessory for costume or dance parties.

FINISHED!!

So I've finally finished my headband! Here are some quick pictures of how it looks like. More high res pics will be taken later.