Portfolio Prototype I

For my first prototype in the process of creating the duvet, I took time over the break to make a couple small pillows to begin testing code on. Prior to the creation of these small pillows, I had a couple of roadblocks preventing me from diving in head first. Sourcing materials for this project has proven both difficult and expensive; some of the hardware for this project can easily start to take a toll on my bank account :(. In the initial design for this project, I knew I would require lots of conductive thread in order to properly have each duvet panel function as a touch-sensitive pad. However, I ordered a very small spool of thread (2m), and that alone was $16. With this, I’ll simply need to look for other resources for conductive thread or find another form of conductive material. The hardware chip you see below (Bare Conductive Touch Board), was very hard to get my hands on, but this was an imperative tool to use for the execution of my project. The difficulty with acquiring this was mainly because of mail strikes and hectic holiday seasons; I was set back quite a bit over the break because of this. Once I had sourced all my materials, it was quite simple to start putting everything together. My brother wove me small pillows I could use for these prototypes; and with them I took stuffing and wrapped the conductive thread in a somewhat methodical method so the whole pillow was “conductive”. Using alligator clips, I attached them to a section of the thread through a small open incision I left for the wiring when sewing the pillows closed. Once hooked up, I could easily attach this to the other hardware. The touch board itself is very straight forward prior to hooking it up to an Arduino, there is a small microchip where you can directly load sounds to attach to the eleven different inputs and one output. Without the Arduino attached, the pillow acts as a small trigger to play the same sound over and over; attaching the Arduino will enable further coding to achieve the inviting nature I wish to achieve. The coding I have to learn is the further touch sensitivity, in my vision I want the volume or the effect of the duvet panel to be affected by the pressure applied; this will require much more research and testing. My next step is to gather the remaining amount of my resources and begin creating the duvet, meanwhile I have time to begin finding resources and help with the coding aspect.