The Ultimate Guide to Informed Wearable Technology

Master wearable technology with this book including colored images and over 50 activities using Arduino and ESP32, build useful, stylish, and smart wearable devices, and create interactive circuits that react to us and our environment

Key Features

• Learn wearable technology and build electronic circuits with fun activities using Arduino systems
• Get an in-depth understanding of e-textiles and ESP32 microcontrollers to create interactive wearables
• Apply a design innovation approach and best practices to address real-world issues

Book Description

Wearable circuits add interaction and purpose to clothing and other wearable devices that are currently widely used in medical, social, safety, entertainment, and sports fields. To develop useful and impressive prototypes and wearables, you’ll need to be skilled in designing electronic circuits and working with wearable technologies.

This book takes you on an interesting journey through wearable technology, starting from electronic circuits, materials, and e-textile toolkits to using Arduino, which includes a variety of sensors, outputs, actuators, and microcontrollers such as Gemma M0 and ESP32. As you progress, you’ll be carefully guided through creating an advanced IoT project. You’ll learn by doing and create wearables with the help of practical examples and exercises. Later chapters will show you how to develop a hyper-body wearable and solder and sew circuits. Finally, you’ll discover how to build a culture-driven wearable to track data and provide feedback using a Design Innovation approach.

After reading this book, you’ll be able to design interactive prototypes and sew, solder, and program your own Arduino-based wearable devices with a purpose.

What you will learn

• Construct sewable electronic circuits with conductive thread and materials
• Discover the features of LilyPad, Gemma, Circuit Playground, and other boards
• Use various components for listening, moving, sensing actions, and visualizing outputs
• Control ESP32 development boards for IoT exploration
• Understand why and how to prototype to create interactive wearables
• Get skilled in sewing and soldering sensors to Arduino-based circuits
• Design and build a hyper-body wearable that senses and reacts
• Master a Design Innovation approach for creating wearables with a purpose

Who this book is for

This book is for electronics engineers, embedded system engineers and designers, and R&D engineers, who are beginners in the wearable technology domain as well as makers and hobbyists who have an interest in creative computing. It will also be useful for teachers, students, and researchers, who are learning interaction design, physical computing, technology, fashion, or arts. Having a basic understanding of Arduino-based systems will help in easily comprehending the contents of the book.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the World of Wearables
2. Understanding and Building Electronic Sewable Circuits
3. Exploring e-textile Toolkits: LilyPad, Flora, Circuit Playground, and More
4. Implementing Arduino Code Using Gemma M0 and Circuit Playground
5. Working with Sensors: All About Inputs!
6. Exploring Reactions Through Outputs
7. Moving Forward with Circuit Design Using ESP32
8. Learning How to Prototype and Make Electronics Wearable
9. Designing and Prototyping Your Own Hyper-body System
10. Soldering and Sewing to Complete Your Project
11. Innovating with a Human-Centered Design Process
12. Designing for Forgetfulness: A Case Study of Message Bag

(N.B. Please use the Read Sample option to see further chapters)

Christine Farion is a Post Graduate Lecturer at The Glasgow School of Art for MDes Inn and Interaction Design. A PhD in Smart objects in the domain of Forgetfulness, Christine has been involved in teaching computing, programming, electronics, and prototyping for over 15 years. Previously she created interactive installations internationally, and did research and support for a visual impairment charity. Her interests are memory, accessibility, and physical computing. Currently researching and creating wearable technologies, her focus is on the way we experience our environment and interact with others. This involves interaction to improve quality of life, interpersonal communication, and community well-being.