Wearable Technology

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY (CMT 4600 Project)

Sean Ngan Abhishek Sagar Angela Stavrinou

“The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility.�

- John Lennon

PROBLEM SUMMARY: The available clothing range with wearable technology lacks in the field of either aesthetics or technology. They are less experimental in nature.

SOLUTION SUMMARY: We aim to create a state of the art haute couture inspired from the sixties, which would be eccentric but aesthetically elegant and would be an example of wearable technology. They would react to the environment around them.

PROJECT PROPOSAL: This proposal is divided into different sections, namely MOTIVATION, OBJECTIVES, SUMMARY, PROJECT DETAILS, MATERIALS USED, IMPLEMENTAION ISSUES AND CHALLENGES, DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE, CONCLUSION and REFERENCES.

MOTIVATION Fashion has a huge history behind it, fortunately for us, fashion technology (in the aspect we are examining) doesn't. This makes the project interesting for us and we are eager to get on the realization stage. Not knowing where this is going to end up is interesting and we are curious to know. Its very attractive to us the fact that all this years what changed in the fashion industry was the designs of the clothes rather than the technologies used to make those clothes. Nowadays threads and needles are not the only items that cover people up.

Although there are many similar projects in existence right now, all of it had one thing in common. The clothes produced were readymade clothes that had the technology added on, in various (sometimes sloppy) ways. The design of the clothes remained somehow cheap and made the whole thing someway indifferent.

OBJECTIVES Trying to oppose the current trends we have created dresses influenced from the era of the 60s, made in various interactive ways using many types and formats of creative technology. The dresses are aimed to bring back the 60s fashion in a cool way. But our purpose is to create a product not for the masses, but rather unique pieces used to impress in catwalks. Pieces that are very eccentric but for those who deal with fashion would be a great piece of art combined with technology.

During the process though and while researching we discovered more interesting stuff that we wanted to implement in the designs and we wondered what would happen if we used other methods to do things.

In the end the result regarding the fashion designs came out very experimental but the technologies used not that much.

SUMMARY So starting from the 60s inspired dresses that were pressure sensitive due to pressure pads in the fabric or the dresses that were sound reactive to the music of a fashion show, we moved to experimental designs of dresses that use many different materials to be made like fiber optics, hacked items, plastic and smart fabrics to react to the catwalk environment. For example, dresses that react to the music, to the lights, to the clapping hands of the audience and to the models touch on their waist.

PROJECT DETAILS Technology has found its place in every corner of our lives, making things simpler, innovative, more expressive and wonderful. No doubt it has made a huge impact in the fashion industry as well. Fashion gives us a sense of self-expression, and with technology the bounds of expression with fashion have increased dramatically. Fashion Industry is being transformed entirely with lots of add-ons and extensions to traditional clothing and accessories.

Wearable Technology deals with using smart materials and embedding electronics within the wearables. It is about how some materials can change state with an external stimulus from the environment. There are a lot of things, which can be implemented within clothing with the help of microcontrollers using sensors, actuators, lights, sounds etc.

With open source prototyping platform like the Arduino, designers are able to realize their own ideas. Arduino’s open design allows anyone to make modification to both the hardware and software, and it is available at a very affordable price.

We would be using LilyPad in our project, which is an Arduino micro controller board designed for e-textiles. It can be sewn to fabric and similarly mounted power supplies, sensors and actuators with conductive thread.

The software used to write programs for Arduino is called the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment). The Arduino IDE is based on another open source programing language and program called Processing. It is simple to use and has a great support community. The programs are written as sketches and can be uploaded on the board easily with a usb port.

Beside conductive thread we can also use conductive fabric, which has thin metallic threads embedded with normal fabric. It can be differentiated from normal fabric by using a multimeter. We have planned to use laser cutters to cut the patterns and shapes out of the fabric. Various modules such as the sensors, battery pack or the main board have to be sewn in the underside of the fabric to keep it away from the user. Also each connection is sewn using conductive thread so as to keep the things intact along with maintaining the flow of current in the circuit.

We would be using different fabrics and lights in order to dish out a collection of apparels for catwalk that are inspired from the 60s, but would be sporting mesmerizing lights that would produce an kaleidoscopic effect and would be reactive to the environment.

The use of photochromic ink on the fabric allows it to change color under sunlight or UV light, which would be colorless otherwise. Also lights would be used in a combination of LEDs , Electroluminescent (EL) Tape Strips, and optical fiber fabrics. All of these would be connected to the Lilypad with hard/soft connections and would change their state according to the sensors.

During the catwalk these would present different patterns and colors depending on the ambient light, movement of the model, beats of the music and also to the clapping of the audience. Light dependednt resistors (LDR), allow us to determine the amount of light falling around the model. Accelerometer detects the movement in all 3 axes, also accounting for the twists and bends in the posture of the model. Using a microphone we can get the sound intensity, and with the help of a pressure sensor we can perform action when pressure sensitive part of the dress is touched or pressed. All these sensors data are fed into the Microcontroller and then are manipulated according to the program uploaded by the user.

For instance, we can vary the intensity of the LEDS, according to ambient light and sound, change different patterns in the dress when the model is walking, stopping and turning on the ramp. Also certain areas would light up as the model touches the dress at the waistline.

Soft push buttons can be used as a simple way of turning on or off different functions. They are based on the principle of creating a circuit from and back to Arduino with a breaking point somewhere in the circuit. A braking point is where we can reconnect the circuit so we can determine if the soft push button is active (pushed) or not. These can be made either by using foam/fabric or by metal snaps. Basically, it is done by putting the button between two layers of non-conductive fabric and sewing it with conductive fabric/thread. The connection is switched ‘ON‘, when the button is pushed and the conductive materials come in contact.

The Lilypad supplies a voltage of 3.5V- 5V, which is sufficient to light up LEDs and optical fibers. But to use EL strips separate inverter is required providing a voltage of 6V. Also, a battery module is required to drive the lilypad, and it uses rechargeable batteries. Most of these things are washable excluding the batteries. Metal snaps could be used to attach various modules with the clothing, so that they could be detached before washing.

USB charging battery module for lilypad: LiPower Board: A small, but very mighty power supply.. The nice thing about LiPower is the ability to use rechargable Lithium Polymer batteries. These batteries are smaller, flatter, and last much longer than a AAA battery. Attach a single cell LiPo battery, flip the power switch, and you will have a 5V supply to power your LilyPad network. £10.67 Lilypad as the brain of the clothing: LilyPad is a wearable e-textile technology developed by Leah Buechley. Each LilyPad has large connecting pads to allow them to be sewn into clothing.

Various input, output, power, and sensor boards are available. They're even washable. The main board consists of an ATmega328 with the Arduino bootloader and a minimum number of external components. Board will run from 2V to 5V. £20.99 Three axis accelerometer for the LilyPad system: the LilyPad Accelerometer can detect joint movement as well as inclination and vibration. £15.59

Electret Microphone: Small electret microphone. Useful in acoustic and audio applications. $0.95

Conductive Fabric Pressure sensor: We can use simple conductive fabric and anti-static plastic to create Pressure Sensor.

Conductive Fabric - 12"x13" Ripstop : This is a conductive knit fabric for use in e-textiles. It is similar in feel to a nylon ripstop material. It is highly conductive with a surface resistivity of < 1 ohm/sq. ÂŁ9.41

Conductive Thread - 234/34 4ply : Conductive thread can carry current for power and signals. It is a creative way to connect various electronics onto clothing. ÂŁ22.99

LilyPad Button Board: Button closes when you push it and opens when you release (momentary push button). £1.53

Electroluminescent (EL) Tape Strip - 60 cm : EL tape has a glow effect with a flat, wide shape instead of a round shape.

The glowing part of the tape is 1 cm wide (the plastic coating is about 1.5cm wide). The other side has an adhesive on it so you can stick the tape onto something. Its covered in what seems to be PVC, the tape is thus weather-proof. £7.93 EL Wire 6V Sound Activated Pocket Inverter: A small, portable inverter for EL wire with an audio input! This inverter has a little microphone and will light the connected EL according to the surrounding audio volume. Makes for an easy reactive project. £7.80 Visible LEDs LED red/green/blue PLCC6 120deg: Tri-color surface mounted RGB led with white casing. Dimensions: 3 x 2.8 x 1.8mm. (For a pack of 5) £0.95

Light dependent resisitor,NORPS-12 TO18: Sensors that vary in resistance according to the intensity of incident light. £1.95

Fiber Optics fabric: The Fiber Optics Fabric is a light emitting fabric. It is made out of ultra-thin optical fibers, directly woven with synthetic fibers. Dimensions: 22x10 cm (9x4 inches). £33.90

Color changing organic photochromic dye with UV/sun light: made by mixing smart pigment with transparent base.

With exposure to UV light it changes color. £18 for 50 grams

Laser Diodes: These encapsulated laser diodes are Class IIIa 5mW, with a 650nm red wavelength. They can be driven from 2.8V to 5.2V. $5.95 Shape Memory alloys muscle wire: shape-memory alloys are metals that change shape when heated. When cool, they can be shaped like a typical metal. However, when heated to an activation temperature, they return to their preset shape. £6.40

IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND CHALLENGES • The major issue in implementation would be the stitching of all the electronic modules within clothing, as any loose connection can disrupt the whole circuit. Also we need to keep all the things intact on the dress, so that nothing falls off.

• Designing and cutting patterns out of fabrics can be a cumbersome job. A laser cutter could be used to make things easy.

• As we are planning to make state of the art products, the materials used as fabrics should be chosen carefully, and the stitching should be done precisely using good quality of thread.

• The economy of these dresses is a major challenge, as the lights used such as EL strips and optical fiber fabric, are expensive, so we have to be careful about what materials to use and in how much quantity.

• Another challenge is the placement of lights, electronic modules and wiring into the dress. It should be carefully thought of before creating a dress, and we could make a rough layout first.

DELIVERABLES The project would produce a state of the art haute couture collection, inspired by the 60s, but will exhibit modern technology in the form of reactive dresses with lights and materials that change state according to the environment and the person who is wearing the dress.

• The first stage is the concept creation stage, which we have worked out in our portfolio as a part of the project proposal. We would be creating more designs and would select the ones that are suitable for building based on the feasibility. This would include working out on the budget, the designs of the clothing, the materials required to build the dress, and what technology we would use to create a certain output.

• The next step would be material gathering, where we would fish out the collection of the fabrics, electronics and lights required to build our dresses, from the market. . Also in this stage we would work on the prototyping of our project with Arduino, so to have an idea of how things are going to work out.

• After this we will create the dresses. This would require cutting and stitching appropriately to create a collection. Layout designs would be made in advance for the circuitry and lights. We would also write the programs that would be running on our lilypad, and put everything together to mark the completion of the collection.

• The final stage would be the exhibition, where we would put out our showreel for the collection.

TIMELINE • • • •

Concept Creation stage: estimated deadline: 23th Jan 2013.

Materials gathering/prototyping: estimated deadline: 8th Feb 2013.

Creating the dresses: estimated deadline: 22th Feb 2013.

Final exhibition and showreel: estimated deadline: 26th Feb 2013.

CONCLUSION We have planned to create a state of the art haute couture, which is inspired from the fashion of sixties. Our collection would be experimental and eccentric, but at the same time aesthetically elegant. Breaking apart from the wearable clothing products available in the market that are made of sub-standard quality, these would be collectibles suitable for catwalk, and would interact with the user and the environment creating magical effects.

GROUP/INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION We as a group have worked together, and have contributed in the progress of our project. We selected wearable technology as our topic and researched various aspects which we could explore.After a discussion with Dr. Alex, we came to a conclusion that we would create something that is not for utility, but more of fun and exhibition.

We started with market research together for what is available in wearable technology as mass products.

Angela has contributed in intensive research into different wearable technology. She has driven the core concept for presenting the haute couture that use wearable technology and are eccentric and designed for a catwalk. She has also made major contribution in the essays for our portfolio.

Sean has invested his creative vision and design skills to bring forward numerous state of the art designs which also have detailed description diagrams with the embedded electronics and dress layout. He has also created the layouts and graphics for our portfolio/presentation.

Sagar has contributed in the technical aspect of the project, as how are we going to use the technology with our dresses, identifying the feasibility and requirements for the project. He wrote the informative part of our essay and created the presentation.

RESEARCH - EMotion

Video Link: http://www.design.udk-berlin.de/Modedesign/EMotion

An interview with Brigitte Franken and Christian Bruns from Moon Berlin

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_ embedded&v=EGUwqjpCnko#!

RESEARCH - Hussein Chalayan Spring Summer 2007 Collection

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_ embedded&v=uTFl0rNNQrY&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_ embedded%26v%3DuTFl0rNNQrY&has_verified=1

Pneuma Dress, which lights up according to the breathing of the person.

How we work as a group?

We use our Facebook group page as a repository of research work, and for discussion. We also used Skype for communication and sharing files.

We use our Facebook group page as a repository of research work, and for discussion.

REFERENCES Cool Components. 2013. Lilypad- Cool components. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/lilypad-c-50_73.html.

[Accessed 17 January 13]. cutecircuit.com. 2012. Laura Pausini in CuteCircuit for her Summer World Tour. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.cutecircuit.com/laurapausini-summer/. [Accessed 17 January 13]. cutecircuit.com. 2012. CuteCircuit lights up Battersea Power Station.

[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cutecircuit.com/cutecircuit-andnicole-scherzinger-lights-up-battersea-power-station/. [Accessed 17 January 13].

E. Braddock Clarke, Sarah , 2012. Digital Visions for Fashion + Textiles: Made in Code. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson Ltd. Frohnauer Straße. 2010. Pneuma. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. stretchable-circuits.com/projects/healthcare/pneuma. [Accessed 17 January 13].

Jie Qi. 2012. MAKE| How-To: Work with Shape-Memory Alloy. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blog.makezine.com/2012/01/31/skill-builderworking-with-shape-memory-alloy/. [Accessed 17 January 13].

Lumigram. 2012. Online Store. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. lumigram.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1. [Accessed 17 January 13].

McCann, J., 2009. Smart clothes and wearable technology. 1st ed.

United Kingdom: Woodhead Publishing.

Olsson, Tony, 2008. Open Softwear. 1st ed. Sweden: BlushingBoy Publishing.

Quinn , Bradley , 2012. Fashion Futures. 1st ed. London: Merrell Publishers.

Quinn , Bradley , 2010. Textile Futures: Fashion, Design and Technology.

1st ed. UK: Berg Publishers.

Seymour, Dr. Sabine, 2008. Fashionable Technology: The Intersection of Design, Fashion, Science, and Technology. 1st ed. Austria: Springer. styleskilling.com. 2006. Shapeshifting at Hussein Chalayan. [ONLINE] Available at: http://styleskilling.com/2006/10/06/shapeshifting-athussein-chalayan/. [Accessed 17 January 13].

Syuzi. 2010. Vega Wang's Bioluminescent Couture- Fashioning technology. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fashioningtech.com/ profiles/blogs/vega-wangs-bioluminescent. [Accessed 17 January 13].

Syuzi. 2010. Laser Dance Suit- Fashioning technology. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fashioningtech.com/profiles/blogs/laser-dance-suit.

[Accessed 17 January 13].

DESIGN CONCEPT when technology blends seamlessly with fashion

DESIGN ONE: BAR CODE

This dress flickers according to the beats of the music being played. As the model puts her hands on the waist while posing, the bars start alternating.

Sound sensor detects the beats of the music, pressure sensor detects the hand on the waist.

DESIGN TWO: KALEIDOSCOPE

This dress creates kaleidoscopic patterns based on both the ambient music and the amount of incident light on the model.

LDR detects the amount of light falling on the model, while sound sensor detects the beats of the music.

DESIGN THREE: BUTTERFLY

This dress is based on the butterfly. It has LED antennas that rise and fall with music, and its skirt is woven with finer optics, which change patterns as the model is moving, like fluttering wings of a butterfly, Accelerometer detects the movement of the model, Sound sensor detects the beats of the music.

DESIGN FOUR: CYBER SPACE

A futuristic design, this one has a laser diode jutting out even before the arrival of the model. It can be switched off by a soft switch on the waist. The LEDs on the dress are sound reactive, and create space age patterns.

Sound sensor detects the ambient sound, and is manipulated by the micro controller.

EARLY EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

These were early experimental designs based on 60â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fashion. They are simple yet elegant and mainly use LEDs.

This dress is perfect for creating pressure sensitive dress, due to the different sections made on the dress. As the model touches different parts of the dress, they light up.

EARLY EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

This was build on the basis of nature, and we thought of using electoluminescent strips as veins, and LEDs to craete patterns.

A futuristic design, this dress has huge potential in terms of technological modification, such as use of shape memory alloys in the skirt and hat antenna, optical fibers in shoulder pads, etc.

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