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Outcome

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Intention

My project proposal is to create a ‘high-five’ gloves where after giving anyone a high five, the gloves would light up. that could encourage physical interaction between people. I was inspired by the idea of using some of the sensors seen in E-Textiles and with the idea of incorporating LEDs and circuitry into a piece of attire. The gloves would use a pressure sensor that would turn LEDs on when pressed. I think the gloves would be a cool and unique piece of clothing but it’s also an effective way of showing a large group of people the capabilities and examples of e-textiles.

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Process and/or Research

First, I did some research on pressure sensors that could be used for the gloves. Although I could purchase a pressure sensor, I thought it would be a good experiment to try to make a homemade pressure sensor. I found instructions for a pressure mat (http://www.instructables.com/id/Velostat-Homemade-Pressure-Sensor-Mat/) that uses the material Velostat which changes its resistance when pressure is applied. This pressure mat is relatively cheap and easy to make so consequently it seems like it would be easy to play around with and create prototypes of. I would have to test to see how much pressure would have to be applied to activate a LED. Additionally, I would have to see if the pressure is involuntarily triggered if someone wearing the gloves is holding something or if their hands are in a fist. Potentially I would have to add a switch to make sure the battery isn’t wasted unnecessarily. Furthermore, the battery would have to be smaller than the ones used in class considering the size of a glove (especially women’s and children’s glove sizes), so this Li-Po battery (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13813) seems to be a good substitution. The battery would probably have to be on the back on the hand where it could rest flat. The LEDs would probably be located near the battery as well since putting any circuitry on the fingers might tug on the wires. Lastly, I would have to play around with the type of material with the gloves - I would probably create the initial prototype using an old pair of cotton gloves but may branch out into different materials in future tests.

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Reflection

Initially, I didn’t realize how many considerations you have to have when starting this proposal for this project. The fabric, the location of the battery and LEDs, the type of battery, the type of pressure sensor, etc are all major components of the gloves and can drastically affect the final product. Additionally, this project mainly relies on the skills learned in the first class of E-Textiles so it will be interesting to see how I can apply the skills I learned (soldering, sewing, circuit making) into an individually made project.

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