Wearable Computing!

History

Conductive fabrics/thread have been used for over 1000 years!

By the late 19th century, electricity was so ubiquitous, party planners could hire women to wear light-studded party gowns

Categories

Wearable computing encompasses a wide range of usespurely aesthetic light/sound displays

purely practical/functional Google glasses

Turn signal bike jackets

Enter Arduino

Arduino open source electronics prototyping platformHardware (microcontroller, inputs, outputs)

Software/IDE (simplified C++ language)

Arduino Hardware Suites

Microcontroller

InputsTemperature/Light Sensors

Accelerometers

Switches, Buttons

OutputsLEDs, Speakers, Vibration Motors

Hardware Examples

Lilypad Arduino http://lilypadarduino.org/Female Creator (Leah Buechley)

Easy Development BoardsPrewired to plug into computer, then snap apart for sewing

FLORA http://www.adafruit.com/category/92Less expensive, steeper learning curve

Arduino Software

Learning

LadyAda.nethttp://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino/index.html

Adafruit Tutorialshttp://learn.adafruit.com/category/learn-arduino

Arduino Tutorialshttp://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Foundations#.Uw7BI16rXXQ

Sparkfun Tutorialshttps://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials

Support

Arduino Forumhttp://forum.arduino.cc/

Sparkfun Forumhttps://forum.sparkfun.com/

Reddithttp://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/

Inspiration

Butterfly dress flaps with heartbeathttp://artandprogram.com/butterflydress/index.php?mov=1

Solar powered phones phone charging bagshttp://www.howcast.com/videos/271702-How-to-Make-a-Solar-Charging-Bag

Turn Signaling Biking Jackethttp://lilypadarduino.org/?p=1478

Touch Sensitive Hoodiehttp://www.instructables.com/id/musical-conductivity-detecting-light-up-hoodie/