Chapter 11. Making wearables
This chapter covers
- Creating wearable projects with the LilyPad Arduino
- Working with conductive thread
- Creating a turn-signal jacket
- Creating a wearable piano
- Making a wearable compass
The term “wearable” generally refers to clothing and accessories that incorporate computer and advanced-electronic technologies. The designs often incorporate practical functions and features as well as make a statement or establish a technological look.
Another way of imagining a wearable is that it’s a dynamic surface around your body that is capable of connecting you to devices around you, people, and places. These days most people carry a mobile phone, always on them and always on, but it’s not hard to imagine a near future in which most of our communication tools will be even smaller, perhaps even integrated into clothing or accessories that we carry with us. Wearables can be clothing like jackets or sweaters, accessories like hats or scarves, or objects that are worn or carried like necklaces or headphones.
All of these are rich areas to explore. Another mode of wearable computing that you may consider is wearable technology that can be integrated with a mobile phone or laptop using radio frequencies or Bluetooth.
In this chapter we’ll examine two platforms for creating wearable applications: the LilyPad and the Arduino Pro Mini. Each has different strengths and weaknesses, and each requires a slightly different development mentality.