Initial Build of the Prototype

Wearable (Prototype 2)

Garment designed by Romit. The idea is to use the tape as a wireframe for the Arduino and the cables.

Garment prototype designed by Romit – front

While this provided a strong structure, by being one whole piece it posed a challenge to us on how we could tighten the garment to the body while also ensuring the micro vibrating motors were touching the body enough so that the vibration from them be sensed.

Garment prototype designed by me – front

Using my gained knowledge from UX of Senses and Survival of the outfit, I produced a garment that solved the challenge we faced with the previous one and made it much easier to fit the body and tighten.

I ensured the connection of the piece on the shoulder was strong enough with extra layers of tape and staples. The tightening mechanism was made by Romit.

Experiments with Micro Vibrating Motors

Testing the Arduino setup.

The available micro vibrating motors from the Creative Technology Lab (CTL) had very tiny cable ends which made the electric connection unstable. Furthermore, one, the crocodile pin cables were not long enough, and, second, were not stable one moved or worn on the body they would likely disconnect.

Therefore, I soldered them and prepared all 4 motors with cables long enough to go on the parts of the body we envisioned.

Using the mannequin, we tested the vibrations of the motors. While they were working some of the time they had two issues.

Despite soldering the cables with the motors, they did not provide a good connection for the electric current. Once the fabric moved and cables moved with it some of the motors stopped which made it unusable for wearing and testing. This was my first time doing soldering so it might be on me that issue.

Second, the circuit I made was too convoluted, as visible from the images above. I simply replicated the setup shown by the CTL technician and did not colour coded the cables which was obvious the complexity of the setup.