Musical Hoodie Functional Prototype

We finally completed our functional prototype for the Musical Hoodie, and thought we still have some improvements to make, including the name, I am quite proud of our progress.

The first task was to get the BeatWrite program working on the LilyPad Arduino instead of the Arduino Uno. The LilyPad is an Arduino that is meant to be sewn onto cloth, and therefore it was ideal for our project. However, the transition from Uno to LilyPad was not quite as simple as we thought it would be. It turned out that we had not installed the right drivers to connect the FTDI board that connects the LilyPad to the computer. It was somewhat difficult to debug because we were not sure if it was our sewn circuit, the LilyPad itself, or its connection to the computer that was not working. But we worked incrementally and finally got a single LED to blink when connected to the LilyPad, and from there we were able to use BeatWrite to make the LEDs flash to music.

Then we decided to implement a temperature sensor on the sleeve. The idea was that when someone touched the wearer's sleeve, attached LEDs would light up based on an increase of temperature from the touch. However, because the temperature sensor we used senses ambient temperature, it was difficult to set an appropriate range of temperatures. In the future I would use a different kind of sensor, such as a pressure sensor, to detect a touch. However, unfortunately we had not ordered other kinds of sensors and had to work with what we had.

We also tried to create a knit stretch sensor by integrating conductive thread into the fabric of a knit elbow patch. We wanted LEDs to light up when the user bent their elbow, stretching the fabric. However just using conductive thread was not enough. We realized that we needed to use conductive yarn instead, and decided that this would be a project for future implementation. 

My embroidery skills really came in handy when it came to sewing conductive thread into working circuits. It was exciting to use both my experience crafting and my knowledge of programming to create an interesting object. I plan to continue exploring soft circuits in the future. 

To continue to improve the Musical Hoodie in the future, I think the first step would be to disconnect it from the computer and allow it to be run using multiple songs from an iPhone or iPod. It also would be interesting to create multiple Musical Hoodies and create an interaction between them.

Overall, I think the Musical Hoodie was a successful project. The result was both novel and aesthetically pleasing, and our classmates seemed to respond well to it. The website that we created to showcase our project is at: http://musicalhoodie.wordpress.com/.

The Design of Everyday Objects

My grandma taught me how to knit when I was ten, and since then knitting needles have always been an object that have held importance for me. While there is not a specific pair of needles that has a deep meaning, or a specific sentimental value, knitting needles are always something that I have with me. To me they represent the possibility of making new objects, and spending time doing something that I find relaxing and enjoyable. Unlike the yarn that I knit with, they can be used almost infinitely to make hundreds of different objects. As I have continued with knitting I have developed preferences for using bamboo needles instead of plastic or metal because of they are light and the yarn moves over them smoothly. The needles themselves are tools that are used to produce objects, it would seem that their importance may be secondary to the objects that they produce. However, I find that I am more interested in the process of knitting than the objects I produce. In fact I usually end up giving my knitting to friends and family members.  But using a specific set of needles can remind me of past projects that I had made with them and also remind me what I was thinking about, watching or listening to while working on that project. and why I was working on it. Learning to knit is about training muscle memory in your hands to perform the sequence of actions required to make a stitch. Once you have learned how to knit, you no longer have to think about knitting, because your hands do the work. But having a familiar set of tools helps me to increase that memory. While knitting needles are fairly universal from pair to pair, it seems that the more I use a specific set the more meaning I place in each pair. Knitting needles are relatively inexpensive and similar from pair to pair. However, each time I use a set it is imbued with unique meaning about past objects I have used them to create and possibilities  to create future objects.

A Poorly Designed Object

Water faucets with two handles, one that changes the controls the hot water and one that controls the cold water are difficult to use. It is hard to control the temperature of the water because there is no way of knowing how how far you have turned the handle corresponds to the temperature and pressure of the water. There is no immediate feedback to tell you the temperature of the water because it changes as it flows longer, so you are often left waiting for the water to heat up, and wasting water in the meantime. But then the water will quickly get too hot. I often try to turn on both the cold and warm handles to obtain a moderate temperature of water, but then if I have both handles on I get confused about which handle I need to turn to stop the water. This is especially confusing if the handles turn 360 degrees and I cannot remember which way to turn them to turn it off. One single handle that controls both the cool water and the hot water is much more intuitive because there is a visual representation of what the temperature of the water is based on how far the handle is turned.

A Well Designed Object

Scissors are example of a generally well designed everyday object. Usually one end is plastic to differentiate it from the sharp end used for cutting things. The plastic ends have holes that indicate that you should put your fingers to grip the scissors, and they can only move apart in one way. The way that you move scissors corresponds directly with how you cut something, like a piece of paper or fabric. Furthermore, when you hold scissors with the right end, it is most natural to hold them so that the blade points away from you and you are at less of a risk of cutting yourself. When you are not using the scissors the blades are together and are meant to stay together so that they will not accidentally cut you.