Saturday May 2nd 2015, 6 hour workshop during the 2015 NODE Festival in Frankfurt, Germany

An introduction to building sensors that are soft, stretchy and fit to our fleshy human bodies to capture our movements, gestures and interactions with the world.

We can interact with computers through keyboards, mice and trackpads… but these devices limit our interactions to our hands and finger movements. What if we could use our whole body to interact with and control software such as vvvv?

Cameras and microphones are already common input devices that people use to interact with more of their body, in this workshop we look at placing sensors directly on the body to capture it’s soft and fleshy movements. Instead of using off-the-shelf sensors we will build our own textile sensors from a range of electrically conductive, resistive and piezoresistive materials. Participants will learn how to sew, knit and crochet their own textile sensors that can detect interactions such as push, pull, stretch, stroke, bend, tilt, pinch, punch and squeeze…

Building electronics from materials, rather than plugging ready-made sensors into your project, allows you to tailor interactivity to the body. Our bodies are soft, not hard, and soft sensors offer an interesting range of possibilities for on-body, inter-body and body-world interactions.

We will use the Arduino platform to read the values of these sensors into our digital devices, and show briefly how to connect them with the vvvv environment through the Firmata library.

This workshop is only open to NODE festival ticket holders, if you are interested participating in this workshop, please see the NODE Festival website for details: http://node15.vvvv.org/program/workshop/soft-sensors-soft-bodies

Downloads

>> Mika’s MAX Patch “I’m a little bit drunk, cause I’m drinking, drinking drinking….”
>> vvvv patch on GitHub

More photos on Flickr

Hannah’s

NODE’s

Workshop Details

Date: Saturday May 2nd 2015
Location: Frankfurt
Duration: 6h
Participants: max. 20
Prior knowledge: basic understanding of the Arduino platform is helpful, but not necessairy
Materials fee: 5-10 euro per participant (included in festival/workshop fee)
Sign-up for workshop: http://node15.vvvv.org/program/workshop/soft-sensors-soft-bodies

Workshop Examples

Sockpuppets >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=5539

Workshop Leaders

Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson have been collaborating since 2006, and in 2008 formed the collective KOBAKANT. Together, through their work, they explore the use of textile crafts and electronics as a medium for commenting on technological aspects of today’s “high-tech” society. KOBAKANT believes in the spirit of humoring technology, often presenting their work as a twisted criticism of the stereotypes surrounding textile craftsmanship and electrical engineering. KOBAKANT believes that technology exists to be hacked, handmade and modified by everyone to better fit our personal needs and desires.
In 2009, as research fellows at the Distance Lab in Scotland, KOBAKANT published an online database for sharing their DIY wearable technology approach titled HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT.

Workshop Materials

– Stretch conductive fabric
– Non-stretch conductive fabric
– Conductive thread
– Neoprene
– Fusible interfacing
– Jersey
– Cotton

Workshop Tools

– Sewing needles
– Knitting needles
– Crochet hooks
– Scissors
– Paper & pens
– Projector
– Arduino
– Crocodile clips
– Jumper Wires