Final week of the research studio. Shape of the wearable is more less agreed and so is its behavior. A week of production. Public presentation should include the functioning prototype of the garment, as well as the ones from the previous two weeks. This week will also be about strategies and scenarios of bringing the product to the market, which means considering the target group of users, promoting the sustainable product and offer
a strategy of its advertising,marketing and selling/renting.

Monday, May 6, IaaC

Monday morning. This day is an exception. Today it is rather about the presenting the functions of the wearable and our idea of turning it into the real product. We meet new people from TU Eindhoven. Kristi Kuusk and Marina Toeters. After an introduction and their opening presentations we are given a short time to prepare a brief presentation of the final product based on a few diagrammatic sketches. Our final prototype will have six vibration motors controlled by the global positioning system module. Ideal for the running activities in the forested parks and outdoor tracks. Target group is active tourists. People who are interested in an outdoor activities in places, which they don’t know so well. Motors will stimulate the physical activity of the body and at the same time keep the person on the track by changing the vibration cycles based on the position. At the end of the day we decide to change the engraved pattern for the next prototype.
We create a system of isolines defining the six vibration points. File for laser cutting is being prepared.

 
vibration motors testing

Tuesday, May 7, IaaC/ESDi

Another day, another prototype. Early in the morning. Changing the small details in the vector file for laser cutting. Cutter is booked for 11.30 session. We still have a quite large piece of grey neoprene from the week one. Grey on the outside, black inside and 3mm thick. Ideal for engraving. This time we need to be very careful with the engraving settings. Last time the engraving pattern was too deep so the whole prototype fell apart after few fittings. We test four small pieces of the same material before we find the right settings for engraving. Whole piece is being cut afterwards. New pattern looks interesting on the body. Elasticity of the neoprene adds even more dynamics to the pattern. We need to adjust the shape of the garment and fit it to the body. All of us agree to go for the more tight and and elastic shape which would constrain the body little more. In the afternoon we head for Sabadell. For adjustments of the wearable we need to use the sewing machine at the ESDi. Sleeves are being created. Neoprene can be easily modeled and adjusted on the body.
At the end of the day we have the first of two final prototypes for Friday. On the evening train to Barcelona. Fatigue starts to creep in.

final prototype vector drawing

  
neoprene prototype’s further detailing

neoprene prototype with motors on the body

Wednesday, May 8, IaaC

New material finally arrives. It is a very thin black textile. It has a little bit of elasticity. We are going to cut another prototype out of this material, with the same pattern, and then compare both and decide which of these would be the final. Starting with laser cutting before noon. Cutting the small testing samples takes a while. The material is very thin so it is quite difficult to figure out the power and speed for engraving. After six test cuts we find the right settings. Cutting the large piece is not seamless though. The surface is not completely flat so the machine head gets jammed every couple of minutes. We need to adjust the lift height of the head. Engraved pattern looks very delicate on this material. Outer side of the cloth has a suede-like surface and engraved curves are very subtle. Gemma makes a machine-sewn sleeves and painstakingly detailed back pocket for electronic board and battery.

 
laser cutting the second prototype

 
test sample vs. final product

Thursday, May 9, IaaC

Today is a day. All of us are packed in our small classroom. So intense. Going to spend the whole day with the electronic board for six vibration motors and bluetooth module. Guys are working on the product title and a web site promoting it and offering services. A client would pick a garment, select the location for running, choose the material based on climate and eventually could have a customized pattern. Trailblazer is its title. Http://gg.gg/trailblazer. Decide to put all the electronic components for the motor control on a proto shield on the top of arduino. Final list of components includes: 6 vibration motors Cebek 6070, 6 mosfet transistors IRF520N, 6 diodes 1N4004, arduino uno microcontroller, bluetooth module, arduino proto shield, battery, connection pins. Soldering all the components to the shield takes couple of hours. Circuit works well. At last. For powering the motors we decide to use the lithium polymer battery, 3.4V and 1000mA/h. We finally decide to use the neoprene prototype as the fully working one. Bert programs the simple mobile application which could simulate the behavior of the motors controlled by the gps module.

circuit diagram

 
placing the electronics into the back pocket

Friday, May 10, IaaC

Presentations starts at 18.00. We assemble the final prototype. All the electronics fit quite well inside. Arduino shield is a little bulky though. All the motors work. One can feel the vibrations coming from the various points, the hands, elbows and shoulders. The experience is quite intense. Motors are powerful. The experience of stimulation of the physical activity and navigation through the territory becomes very tangible. One can feel that.

  
web site promoting the product and service

project team: Gemma Vila, Bert Balcaen, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
photo credits: Bert Balcaen, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
video credits: Rafael Vargas Correa

Back in the studio with a handful of components and a faint idea of the outcome by the end of the week. Exciting. This is the second week of Close to the Body. The same teams return to their prototypes and rethink, reiterate and redesign the wearable objects in order to make them sense and actuate and form some kind of communication among the wearable, the body and its surroundings.

Monday, March 11, Valldaura
After a brief morning introduction and short presentation by Eva Deckers from TU Eindhoven, we are in the taxis again, heading for Valldaura. At the site. In a windy and cold surroundings of the Collserola park we perform the original movements, wearing the prototypes for the new people to guess, comment and suggest the further steps. Trying the prototype enhancements, adding the objects of everyday-life, which we had been told to bring with us. Small bike LED’s, MP3 player, smartphones, flashlight, hair dryer, some more LED lights, all of these are being tested inside the wearables to see the immediate effect. After lunch we are given more time to identify the way of interactivity for our objects and find the means of presenting this way to other groups. Movement. Input. Sound. Output.
Our prototype should respond to a changing position of the body by making sound or vibration, suggesting the person to explore these sensations via movement. We find dry branches, which help us to communicate this idea in a simple way to the others. A person wearing the prototype moves randomly across the south terrace while the other person tries to follow and respond accordingly, changing the drumming patterns on the stiff felt surface of the prototype. Branches as drum sticks.

Tuesday, March 12, IaaC
At IaaC again. Short presentation by Martijn ten Bhömer, who shows us some projects combining the textiles and electronics. We are introduced to the microcontroller shield prototypes, which had been developed at TU Eindhoven. Small boards, 30×30 millimeters, each with a microcontroller preprogrammed for a different input or output. LED lights, speakers, vibration motors, accelerometers. Tiny and easy to implement to the textile fabrics. We decide to test one of these boards programmed for small vibration motors, the ones from the LiliPad family. After building a simple circuit, using the board, vibration motor and 3,7V lithium polymer battery, we place the motor onto different parts of the felt prototype and try to understand how the material distributes the vibration and its effect on the body. The robust felt material with a high density of texture seems to spread the vibration waves quite well.
Time to control. Using the Arduino software, we check the program controlling the vibration motor, how it is defined and what are its time delays. Based on these findings we program three sketches which should explore how the motor effects the wearable and the body at the same time. High/Low, Fade and Pulse, these are the basic motor behaviors, which should help us to define the interaction between the garment and body.

Wednesday, March 13, ESDi
On an early morning train to Sabadell. ESDi today, with its wide corridors, spacious classrooms and student canteen. Sabadell Rambla again. The weather is cold and miserable. Smart textiles. Marina presents her Tumblr blog site. Textiles Now. A collection of various smart textile projects oscillating between high fashion and textile design. After that we are shown some samples integrating technology into the textiles. Various types of conductive thread, woven into the fabric, forming soft sensors, thermochromic ink, EL wires, conductive paint and fluorescent yarn.
Back to the projects. This time we work in a basement room. Close to the machines. Sewing, knitting and weaving will be needed. Today we test a new vibration motor, Cebek 6070, purchased the other day. 8000 rpm. Seems to work well, much stronger than the LiliPad motors. We should use this type of motor for the final prototype of this week. This motor has a tiny spinning tip so it needs to be in a protective case. We build an improvised one, using a small piece of transparent vinyl film.
We test the accelerometer sensor. LilliPad’s ADXL 335. Works fine. Doesn’t work with the preprogrammed microcontroller board though. These are designed either for an input or an output. We learn that it is not possible to control the sensor and motor with one board and a connection of more boards together would need a complicated serial communication protocol. Time to change the strategy. Finally, we decide to use the Arduino Fio for controlling 6 vibration motors and 1 accelerometer. We again test a quick prototype using a thinner type of synthetic felt. The vibration effect is not very intense and its various modes are almost imperceptible.

Thursday, March 14, IaaC
Buying the Cebek motors and new piece of thinner white felt today. We have to start the final prototype of this week. We have decided to laser-cut a new one. Booked our time at FabLab. 4pm. Due to the lack of time we agree to fabricate the wearable with identical digital pattern, this time without the elbow perforations. Electronic circuit on the breadboard with jumping cables is unstable so we decide to build a PCB shield on the top of the Arduino board and solder all wires onto it, so it can function while someone has the prototype on. New vibration motors need to have a protective cases which can be integrated into the felt. Using the transparent orange 3mm acrylic glass, we laser cut 5-piece box with simple joints, one for each motor. All laser-cut parts are complete by 6pm. Openings for motors are cut manually, small circle supports for motors are glued from the inside. Motors are being placed onto the felt parts which cover the most active areas – hands, elbows and shoulders.

Friday, March 15, IaaC
Early morning at IaaC. Sun rays are coming through the glass tile wall. No one is around. Today we need finish the prototype. First things first. There is still some work on the PCB board, which needs to be done. Wires controlling the motors are being soldered to the board along with ground ones. Reds and blacks.
The new felt prototype needs to have an additional layer which would keep the maze of cables in place. We cut a system of notches for elastic bands, which will hold the cables connecting the Arduino board with the vibration motors. All motors are in place now, along with boards and 3,7V battery.
Final testing starts now. Motors don’t work properly. Some of them work fully, others just idle slowly, the rest doesn’t work at all. There is a problem with power supply or problem with the PCB connections. Or both.
We test the motors one by one. It looks like it is a power supply problem. 6 motors just draw too much current. We decide to present the final prototype as it is right now, without working electronics. We put the idea of the motors reacting on the body movements on hold. At least for today.

close to the body | week 2 | making of video

close to the body | week 2 | final teaser

project team: Gemma Vila, Bert Balcaen, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
photo credits: Bert Balcaen, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
video credits: Rafael Vargas Correa

Day 1

The first day we spent mostly in Valldaura, a place familiar for the IAACers. Each one of us had picked a particular experience related to the place and we performed it for the group on a location we chose. What we learned here was to zoom in on our senses. For example: what was it that we really liked about lying down in the grass? Were we more into looking at the clouds, or was it really about the sensation of touching the grass? We tried to avoid theory and looked at the microlevel, the small details.

Sietske taught us some techniques to build upon those experiences: through movement, through performing them. We did this collectively and we saw how what we did influenced others and vice versa. There were also some attempts to form groups based on similarities in the movements, but that only really started to work after we all did a very quick prototype of an object that enhanced our movement.

Day 2

We spent this day in ESDI – an interesting place for the IAAC participants, because we had a chance to understand the different textile techniques and their qualities.

Here we also started to work in groups. These were mixed, so each group had some people from ESDI and some from IAAC so we could combine skills. The movements in our group were all related to walking, climbing and running uphill. Our first prototype was very simple and explored the movement of the arms during running or climbing a hill. One of the things we learned from that is these simple prototypes could lead to unexpected outcomes. For example: although we focussed on the arms, our prototype also emphasized the shoulders.

We also tried get the lower body involved by connecting the arms to the legs with elastic strings.

Day 3

The idea of this day was to introduce digital fabrication into the mix. We were a bit worried as a group that we would get carried away too quickly by these tools, so we instead decided to work with lofi prototypes a bit more. We tried to understand the qualities and the behaviour of the material and how it related to our movements.

At one point we came up with a garment from a single piece of felt that covered the arms and the back. We liked to rigidness of the felt and how it constrained the movement of the arms. However, as it was, the material was a bit too rigid, so we came up with the idea of creating openings in the felt with a series of cuts. This was not only visually interesting, but it also made it easier to move when the cuts were in certain places.

The day ended with tryouts and feedback from the tutors.

Day 4

This day we spent exploring how we could use the laser cutter to expand on the idea of creating cuts to make something more flexible. We tried out neoprene, a synthetic rubber. A very nice quality we discovered was that we could create small shape that seemed to “pop out” of the material when we cut it until the middle.

We tried out a few computationally generated patterns on the laser cutter. These looked great, but we all agreed that the neoprene prototype was lacking the stiffness of the felt. Another conclusion was the pattern was a bit too big – it would more interesting to concentrate on the elbows and shoulders.

Day 5

The last day was focussed on production. We settled on a simple pattern with lines and openings around the elbows. We came up with a simple but effective idea for the hands by cross-stitching elastic bands. These provided support for the fingers.

testing the final prototypes in the context of Valldaura forest (the original place of personal experiences)

video documenting the process of developing the prototypes:

video of the final prototype on site:

project team: Gemma Vila, Bert Balcaen, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
photo credits: Bert Balcaen, Oscar Tomico, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
video credits: Rafael Vargas Correa