HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT

Tilt Potentiometer

or: “Analog Tilt Sensor“

Instead of treating each conductive petal contact of the this fabric tilt sensor as an individual digital input, the petals are connected through a series of fixed resistances (conductive thread or fabric with a high resistance) and the last or first petal is this resistor ladder is connected to an analog input. Or: the bead is connected to an analog pin and the ends of the resistor ladder are connected to GND and VCC to create a voltage divider (just like inside a potentiometer). Depending on which petal the metal bead rests on, the analog reading will be unique.

The problem with this design is that the electrical contact between the bead and the petal needs to be really good (no resistance), so that no additional resistance interferes with interpreting the position of the bead based on where along the resistor ladder it is making contact.

Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157670215172850

Content by Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson

The following institutions have funded our research and supported our work:

From 2013-2015 Mika is a guest professor at the eLab at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee

From July - December 2013 Hannah was a researcher at the UdK's Design Research Lab

From 2010-2012 Mika was a guest researcher in the Smart Textiles Design Lab at The Swedish School of Textiles

From 2009 - 2011 Hannah was a graduate student in the MIT Media Lab's High-Low Tech research group led by Leah Buechley

In 2009 Hannah and Mika were both research fellows at the Distance Lab

Between 2003 - 2009 Hannah and Mika were both students at Interface Cultures

We support the Open Source Hardware movement. All our own designs published on this website are released under the Free Cultural Works definition

Tilt Potentiometer

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