Check it out!

Looks like Ben's POV wristband just hit the big time! It's on the front page of both Instructables and Craftzine:
http://blog.craftzine.com/
http://www.instructables.com/

LilyPad Wristband POV

Programmer Ben Zaitlen designed and constructed this fun use of the LilyPad 328. Ben explains the computational wristband as:
"Persistence of Vision (POV) toy using the Lilypad Arduino platform. From wikipedia, 'Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina.' What this means is that, we can flash a set LEDs at specific intervals to create a static or moving image.

The electronics were first stitched onto a piece of fabric, then transferred to a wide band of elastic with velcro bands as fasteners."

For more images check out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40040737@N05/sets/72157623578974872/
For step-by-step instructions see Instructables link: http://www.instructables.com/id/LilyPad-Wrist-Band-POV/

Bee Puppet - Bee Sim Interactive Game

The Bee puppet is part of an interactive game for children learning about hive activity of bees, including pollination, by playing the role of the bee. The bee puppet sits velcroed on top of the glove hiding the main board, x-bee and LiPower. Three LEDs are sewn into the glove exposed on a finger (represents the flower pollen strength). The battery is hidden inside the bee body cavity sewn onto plastic mesh to help form the body shape.

The RGB sensor (game ticking clock) & 3 additional LEDs (represents bee pollen gathered) were sewn first sewn directly onto the puppet for the first prototype. However, it was quickly seen that total access was needed to the boards below the puppet, therefore the second iteration had the RGB sensor and LEDs sewn onto felt buttons, then buttoned through the bee cavity onto the bee neck and abdomen (glass beads were used to insulate the conductive thread) This design was chosen to not only allow easy access for repairs, but also to allow the glove to be interchanged with other insect puppets to examine their activity habits.

During the Bee Sim game the child/bee interacts with flowers, some with conductive material with a variety of hidden resistors beneath the felt flower center and some without conductive material (representing no pollen). After the child gathers the pollen they must return to the beehive before their energy runs out (as represented on the RGB sensor) where the pollen is dropped off and recorded/accumulated by the computer hive through the use of the xbee.

Blast from the Past… IU Computational Textile Workshop 10/24/09

Several months ago Leah Buechley, director of the High-Low Tech Group at the MIT Media Lab, and techie dream team (Emily Lovell and Hannah Perner-Wilson) visited the Indiana University campus in Bloomington to give an hour long presentation to a packed house in the Fine Arts Auditorium. The well received presentation was followed by an over-capacity, five-hour-long circuit and LilyPad workshop. This event has kicked off immense interest in the CT/DIY movement. Following are a few of the highlights from the day-long event.

Part 1: Leading off the hour long presentation was a video of an electronic pop-up book http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI-6wMlaVTc&feature=player_embedded, Leah lit the path to the new emerging possibilities of technology. The book was built with a kit which allowed the designer/builder to create their own electronic vision of an interactive object, that empowerment is the focus of the MIT High-Low Tech Group. But to reach that point, Leah pointed out that technology, including creative technology, must be democratized. Traditionally that might happen through lowering the hurdle, that is making it easier to write computer programs or to work with electronics, however this approach excludes many things at the heart of democratization. (Leah projects a photo of a quilting circle that could have included my late Grandmother) Ahhh…we all get it…the exclusion factor!

But not only is it the exclusion of participants but also the exclusion of materials (when was the last time you saw a Lego Mindstorm kit made with textiles?) So Leah’s groups approach to technology democratization is to change up the material assumptions and where it belongs and what it looks like. Leah went on to explain “we think that if you change the materials, then you change the material context and very naturally change the culture context and thereby shift the culture around technology.” A video of Leah’s bike turn signal jacket played center stage http://www.instructables.com/id/turn-signal-biking-jacket/, proof of the previous point, but to drive it further she explained about the series of workshops she implemented. Including the history of the LilyPad (hand made to manufactured) and discussed some of her favorite projects made with the LilyPad.

Next Hannah discussed a pre MIT LilyPad project called the Puppeteer Project with the use of pressure and bend sensors in performance clothing http://www.kobakant.at/index.php?menu=2&work=2, while emphasizing how changing materials can also change what the technology looks like. Then Emily talked about the new tool kit developed for conductive paint http://hlt.media.mit.edu/paper_computing/index.html and a magnetic surface, which opens the door for even more paper, based products like Hannah’s electronic paper keyboard.

In conclusion, there seems to be a cultural definition of technology (this can be suggested by the lack of females in fields of engineering and computer programming) and there is room to grow. There is a need to expand our cultural assumptions on what technology looks like and who participates. This is where the LilyPad comes into play, but first we need a lesson on circuitry (see Part 2).