Sensors

6 really wearable sensors The textile sensors on our website are often not designed to be manipulated with your hands. In an attempt to move away from manual control, towards bodily entanglement, this post shows 6 wearable textile sensors that are designed to be worn on different parts of the body. The idea being that […]

Rather simple way of making insoles with 3 pressure sensors located at different pressure points of the foot on the ground. The entire circuitry is sewn with conductive thread on sewing machine. The piezoresistive (pressure sensing) material is taped in place until finalized and can then also be sewn in place by machine (with regular […]

A worksheet for taking note of: The electrical resistance range of an analog sensor (Ohm). Picking a mean resistance in that range. Using a resistor of that resistance to build a Voltage Divider that will translate resistance into voltage. Taking note of the min and max voltage range this gives you. Connecting this variable voltage […]

A potentiometer, a potential devider, with the resistive track as the big donut and the conductive wiper as the small donut.

Copper of thread, pigment of change…..

A little goes a long way. Stainless steel fibers blended with wool roving and spun and plied on on a drop-spindle. Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157711023086991 This is not a recipe but an attempt to share things to think about when you approach spinning your own conductive yarn. Or “sensor” yarn in the sense that it’s electrical conductivity […]

A pressure sensor made with conductive wool. You can mix a bit of wool to increase the range of resistance change.

A lengthy pin potentiometer. Something like a slug on the back of your hand. Filled with polenta. You poke the sharp pin through layers of conductive fabrics (and the polenta), one is highly conductive the other has lots of resistance. The pin is conductive and makes an electrical connection from the conductive wiper layer to […]

Instead of treating each conductive petal contact of the this fabric tilt sensor as an individual digital input, the petals are connected through a resistive fabric ring. The end petals in this “resistor ladder” connectto GND and VCC to create a voltage divider (just like inside a potentiometer) and the bead makes for a voltage […]

10 x 10 matrix: Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157680387415118 TinyTextileTouchpad 7×7 rSkin Matrix rSkin – Open Source Robot Skin

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157708415706295 5 x 5 3 x 3

A simple pressure sensor matrix made from two Kapton film sheets with 7×7 copper tape traces and a piece of velostat or Eeonyx piezoresistive material in between.

swing, sway, wave, trail, quiver, quake, judder, jiggle, jig, joggle, jog, jerk, waggle, wiggle, wriggle, wobble, shake, shiver, shudder, squirm, slant, lean, tip, slope, incline, dip, angle, twitch, totter, teeter, tremble, rock, roll, flutter, flap, vibrate, oscillate, convulse …work in progress… This beaded sway sensor was designed to capture the swinging, swaying, jerking, tilting movements […]

A metal clothing button and a button hole that works as state switch. When it is fastened, the connection is made, and if you open the button, the connection gets broken. *This sensor is inspired by the Swatch exchange sample “Button Switch” by Ricardo O’Nascimento Step by Step Cut a hole on the fabric. Make […]

See also Button Button >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=7328

Surely a button Is self-explanatory And yet causes stress (haiku from Kate Fletcher’s Craft of Use, p20) This post covers a few different ways you can construct your own electrical “pushbutton” or embed a ready-made mechanical pushbutton (also known as momentary switch) into a textile button. What is nice about the mecanical mechanism is that […]

After tearing apart some classic and novel datagloves, I realized it would be so simple to layout and produce a version of these multiple flex sensor rigs using a vinylcutter, some Kapton film and tape, copper tape sheets and velostat – to make an extended version of this stickytape sensor design.

Made during PIFcamp 2017, this textile sensor detects the impact of a conductive pendulum slapping against the wristband when the wrist is twisted back and forth in a flicking action. The conductive pendulum is made from a small heavy stone collected by the Soca river that has been sewn into a stretch conductive pouch.

These textile sensor demos were made for the Soft Circuits for Soft Bodies workshop at the eTextile Summer School 2017.

As I got a new stretchy fusible/heat bond from Bemis, I started to experiment with bonding fabrics with iron. Making bend sensor with this technique is super quick, super easy and works very very well as a sensor. Rachel Freire has been working a lot with the heat bond and eTextiles as second skin project […]

Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157682852303805 Video: Front and back: Capacitive Sensing Cap sense shapes: Circular sliders: Linear sliders: Code /* Visualizes the movement of a finger over a series of capacitive sensors. >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=6607 Based on the CVDSense Library Demo Sketch by Admar Schoonen 2016. >> https://github.com/admarschoonen/CVDSensor IMPORTANT: Needs a minimum of 2 capacitive sensors. When […]

Inspired by Pauline, Paul and Jussi‘s foam switch that they submitted to the 2016 E-Textile Swatch Exchange, I made a quick try at constructing a pressure sensor matrix with the rows and columns sewn directly into a piece of anti-static/piezoresistive/ESD foam. It works!

At the tips of your fingers, this contact switch is closed by touching the tips your thumb and index finger together. conductive fabric pads are fused underneath stretch fabric.

During PIFcamp 2016 Cedric Honnet got the analog version of the pin stroke sensing working!

This sensor is inspired by the “design” of fish scales and bird feathers: how single elements are repeated, and how it allows the main body to bend smoothly by sliding over the others. The scale in this sensor is made with Eeonyx non-woven conductive textile. The carbon is infused on non woven textile in order […]

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 […]

Just like Felted Pompom Pressure Sensor and felted crochet pressure sensor, it also works as pressure sensor when conductive yarns are woven into a textile structure. Here I tried two types of woven structure, satin and honeycomb. The honeycomb is a structure often used for tea towels and blankets. It creates 3D structure when taken […]

A 4-way pressure sensor with a central “button” that acts as a joystick. Constructed from conductive (silverized lycra), piezoresistive (Eeontex) fabrics and a metal bead. The metal bead acts as the common side of the 4-way switch and is covered in a layer of piezoresistive stretch fabric. Each of the directions is created by fusing […]

An experiment in how to apply and adapt the stroke sensor principal to be worn and operated on the body.

Switch and Momentary

Using metal pins as conductive fur to construct a pokey stroke sensor.

Experiments in creating spiky stroke sensors from pins….

For the longest time (since 2008) I’ve wanted to build a full body suit that can track a point of contact on the surface without being disturbed by contortions of the body itself.

Sewing or fusing the conductive traces directly onto the piezoresistive fabric.

Sewing or fusing the conductive traces directly onto the piezoresistive fabric.

Using a strap adjuster to slide along two parallel resistive tracks, making contact between them and varying the amount of resistance between their ends.

This post documents a series of experiments using Eeonyx coated fabrics (called Eeontex) to create various fabric sensors. Eeontex fabrics are electrically conductive and can be coated to produce different resistances. Applications for Eeontex fabrics include electrostatic dissipation (ESD), microwave/radar absorption, resistive and microwave heating, but they can also be used to do a variety […]

A textile bend sensor constructed by sewing two parallel sheaths. Two separate pieces of conductive thread are housed inside these two sheaths, thus running in parallel without touching each other directly. Part of the sheath contains and extra layer of piezoresitive fabric. When this part of the sheath is pressured or bent, the electrical resistance […]

Using the technique of weaving strips of cut fabric in a plain weave to create colourful carpets, to make pressure sensors. Instead of sandwitching the piezoresistive material with the conductors ontop and onbottom of the pressure application direction, this design sandwitches the piezoresistive material (stretchy Eeonyx, velostat or Stainless steel Nm10/3 yarn) with the conductors […]

Wimper in German translates to “Eyelash”. This contact switch is made from conducive thread stitched into neoprene to create “lashes” that hover over a band of silverized nylon stretch conductive fabric. Contact between a lash and the band closes the switch.

To make custom fabric pressure sensors that react to even the lightest touch. Ideally less than 10g of force.

Sewn from pieces of non-conductive stretch jersey and Eeontex piezoresistive knit stretch fabric. The fabric of this ball with a balloon inside stretches when the balloon is inflated and the Eeontex fabric becomes less conductive the more it is stretched. Two contacts sewn with conductive thread on either side of one of the Eeontex segments […]

Two danish 1 Krone coins strung on conductive thread. When the coins meet the electrical contact between the threads is bridged, thus closing the “switch”. There are so many different kinds of materials in the world! Conductive, resistive, pizeoresistive, semi-conductive, non-conductive. We use them every day, in all kinds of different ways. Why not use […]

Attempts to 3D print a variety of sensors from conductive ABS material in collaboration with FabLab Berlin. Interestingly the resistance of the material decreases when bent, implying that the electrical connections are being broken in the material because it is being stretched or damaged. When pressured the resistance through the material decreases.

A series of balls knit on double-bed flat-bed knitting machine that incorproate conductive and resistive yarns to allow them to be stretch, pressure, scrunch and touch sensitive. Using lilypad Arduinos with FTDI and USB cables as well as ATtinys with Bluetooth to send sensor data to computer for visualization and sound feedback.

If you don’t have a heavy metal bead at hand to make a Fabric Tilt Sensor with, you can make a heavy conductive bead by crocheting conductive thread around a glass marble.

Using resistive yarn to detect movement and angles of the wrist.

Interweaving layers of conductive fabric, non-conductive fabric, velostat or Eeontex to create a pressure sensitive matrix/grid.

A heavy metal bead strung on conductive thread and surrounded by conductive fabric petals, makes for a simple six way digital tilt switch. When the metal bead makes contact with one of the petals it completes the circuit to an LED light, causing it to light up. This very simple technique for detecting direction of […]

The piezoresistive layer “coats” the thread… stretch conductive strips covered by stretchy piezoresistive tubes… woven into stretch fabric… Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157682272299853

Also: poke sensor, pin prick sensor, prick sensor, sting sensor… Two layers of conductive fabric with isolating spacer in between.

A sensor that captures the movements of your pointing finger. Crochet from steel yarn that has stretch sensitive properties (electrical resistance decreases when steel fibers in the yarn are compressed through pressure or stretch)

This fabric touchpad was inspired by the properties of piezoresistive materials to measure both amount of pressure applied through the materials and increase of resistance across distance. It is made by layering piezoresistive material between two conductive layers and using the piezoresistive layer to alternatively measure position and pressure.

This squeeze sensor can be made by knitting or crocheting a ball including resistive yarn. The ball can then be stuffed with different materials to achieve different kinds of squishiness. The ball can also be hand or machine felted, giving the surface a more uniform appearance.

Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157627692284100 Making-of: Graph: Prototypes/Process:

When you knit with conductive yarn, it changes the resistance when stretched. So, I thought of making an accelerometer with same principle. The weight at the end pulls and stretches the knitted structure as it gets accelerated. It works the best when this sensor (more of an object) is turned around like hammer throwing, or […]

Here, I have crochet conductive yarn with felting yarn and felted it afterwards. It works great as pressure sensor. Making Here is the crochet piece before felting. I mixed Schoeller Nm 10/3 conductive yarn with hippy rainbow color felting yarn. Now it is time to felt. Place the crochet piece on the bowl. Pour hot […]

By using high-resistance conductive thread instead of conductive fabric, you can make a slider (potentiometer) with zippers. Unlike zipper switch, this sensor gives analog values instead of “ON/OFF”.

A Zipper is a great clothing material that can be converted into sensors. Zipper switch is a known technique used in many projects like TV-B-Gone-Hoodie by Becky Stern. It is also introduced in “Fashioning Technology” book by Syuzi Pakhchyan.

This is a combination of conductive pompom and tilt sensor. The advantage is that the pompom has much bigger and softer surface than metal bead, which helps for it to touch the tilt detecting conductive fabric. Also it gives a certain look, that may be desired for some projects.

also see: conductive pompom, pompom tool Make pressure sensor ball by felting a pompom composed of wool and conductive steel fibers.

Use of a circular knitting machine to knit a circular stretch sensor from combinations of conductive and non-conductive yarns.

also see: crochet tilt potentiometer, fabric potentiometer, time sensing bracelet, Made using the zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine to sew/embroider a conductive and a resistive trace side by side. Then any conductive object can be used to bridge the contact between the traces and measure the position/distance from measuring point through the change in […]

As it mentioned in CROCHET OR KNIT SIMPLE PRESSURE SENSOR post, the properties of the conductive yarn is sensitive to pressure or stretch. So, if you knit or crochet the conductive yarn to shape of finger, it can be a finger sensor like Sensitive Finger Tips project, but with crochet material instead of fabrics. These […]

From conductive yarn you can make a conductive pompom, just like you would make a regular pompom. You can also mix conductive and regular thread to both save on the conductive yarn and also for aesthetics. Use conductive thread to fasten the pompom together, both because it is more conductive and will make for a […]

Using the circular knitting machine to knit a circular tube with the Schoeller 50/2 conductive yarn, makes for an excellent stretch sensor that can be used (among other things) to capture the pressure of a balloon inflating and deflating.

Because of the properties of the conductive yarn to be sensitive to pressure or stretch it can be knit or crochet into any shape and will react to to pressure with a decrease in resistance. By setting a threshold in software this sensor can also be used as a switch.

By using conductive yarn as electrodes, you can create a simple button with crochet. The construction idea is very similar to fabric button.

Here is the crochet pressure sensor. The main principle is same as regular pressure sensor. Instead of conductive fabric or thread, I used conductive yarn from Schoeller, Nm 50/2 60/40 Pes/Inox @ Euros 65.00/kg (25,000 metres/kg). Since this yarn is very thin, it is mixed with normal yarn and crochet, which is what you can […]

Combination of tilt sensing and potentiometer using regular wool and conductive wool from Schoeller.

The experiment results of carbon paint painted on various stretchy fabrics. It shows resistance difference when stretched. The paints are applied by simple stencil method with sticky tapes.

Ruffle Knit by Hillary Grant Knitting with taught elastic, causing the knit structure to bunch up and create ruffels of loops that can be used for stroke sensing. Samples knit by Hilary Grant at Distance Lab: Samples of knitting elastic from Uppington Yarns >> http://www.wools.co.uk Switch in Loops by Pauline Vierne >> http://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/switch-in-loops/ Knit sensors […]

I have tried various methods, such as knitting and stitching with resistive thread, applying carbon paint to jersey, mixing conductive fibers with stretchy fabric glue, stretching various conductive materials to see if this changes their conductive properties… and some of it worked, sometimes inconstantly or even incoherently or just wore out over time too quickly.

WORK IN PROGRESS Exploring different possibilities to knit stretch sensors.

This sensor is the very first example of something I made with the circular knitting machine.

This sensor senses stroke in multiple directions. Using a technique similar to that for carpet making, conductive threads are distributed in patches and patches are connected together on the back side. Within the patches the threads are connected and when the threads of one patch make contact with the threads of another patch, this can […]

Following the same principal that you’ll find inside a traditional round and slider potentiometers. Both contain a wiper finger (conductive) and a resistive track. Normally both ends of the restive track end in separate measuring point tabs, as does the wiper finger. Thus you can choose to measure from either of the restive track tabs […]

These sensors measure pressure and can also be designed and placed to measure bend. They work on the simple principal that Velostat reacts to pressure with a decrease in electrical resistance. When sandwiched between two conductive layers, this change in resistance can be easily measured and used as an indication of how much pressure is […]

Variations of very simple fabric pressure sensors made from various resistive fabrics sandwiched between conductive layers. This is an ongoing experimentation. Similar to the neoprene Bend and Pressure Sensors and the Stickytape Sensors, these also make use of the resistive changes of various materials under pressure. Variations in pressure sensitivity and stability can be achieved […]

This rectangular piece of knit, cut from an anti-static glove, has different resistance ranges, depending if you measure across the rows or columns of the stich. >> Instructable The range of resistance across the columns of stiches is about 30K Ohm. The range of resistance across the rows of stitches is about 90 K Ohm. […]

Four separate pressure sensors not only give feedback about where I’m pressing, but also how hard.

Creating stretch sensors from stretchy fabrics that have conductive/resistive properties that change depending on the stretching of the fabric. I’m hoping this will allow to make super simple stretch sensors and lead to other interesting possibilities.

Combining beads and other decorative elements with conductive textiles to create tilt sensitive designs. A bracelet decorated with six conductive fabric petals and a row of beads with a metal bead on the end, makes for a simple six point tilt detection. It is also designed so that the metal bead will make contact with […]

also: neoprene pressure sensor, conductive thread Pressure Sensor Stitching conductive thread into neoprene to create a pressure sensitive pad. This sensor is very similar to the Fabric bend sensor or vis-versa. And also close to the Fabric Pressure Sensor, but the difference is that the conductive surface is minimized by stitching only a few stitches […]

also: soft button, textile button, soft switch These super simple fabric buttons are soft, fun to push and can come in handy when building various prototypes. They all share the same ground or plus, depending on what you hook what up to.

also: neoprene bend sensor, conductive thread Bend Sensor, Bend Sensor (thread) This bend sensor actually reacts (decreases in resistance) to pressure, not specifically to bend. But because it is sandwiched between two layers of neoprene (rather sturdy fabric), pressure is exerted while bending, thus allowing one to measure bend (angle) via pressure.