Holding-Hands

Technology mediates our relationships through virtual interaction and telecommunication, connecting us over impossible distances while simultaneously alienating our bodies. The Holding Hands project is an arduino controlled smart textile (scarf) with soft, warm, hands which can hold and be held; maintaining that comfortable distance technology affords us while engaging the body in a tactile way. The resulting object is a sad and sweet answer to the problem of loneliness in a digital world. Today, Artist/Designer Anna Wolfe carries the same considerations into the realm of space exploration. 

[arevori]

Episode 519 - Marsfall - Radio Drama Revival

Join me in the dread blackness of space, won’t you, friends, as we hurtle through the cosmos till we at last make land, till we at last… make MARSFALL. It's a science fiction dreadnought, this one: fantastic writing, heartwrenching acting, and absol...

As I continue my exploration on the topic of space, and visualize my part in all of this, it’s exciting to come across works of fiction that are also imagining people like me in key positions. In Marsfall, we see an artist at the beginning of her career as Commander on her first mission to colonize Mars. Thanks to RDR for sharing this, looking forward to listening to the interview with the creatives behind this story!

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There’s a Russian Cosmonaut named Oleg who’s posting videos from the ISS to his personal Youtube channel. But nobody knows about it. His latest video, made 5 hours ago, from space, has 17 views. Here’s a quick fly-through of the station he made last week. More highlights in the comments.

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With Holding-Hands I considered the way technology connects us while simultaneously isolating us physically. What does it mean to be sending videos from space, like a tree falling in the woods, with only 17 views to see it? Is the act of sending enough to curb the sense of isolation one must feel alone on a spacecraft? How many views does a cosmonaut need to feel connected? 20? 1.5 million? 7.6 billion? 

[kqedscience]

LightSail Spacecraft Sends Back a Selfie Showing Its Sail Stretched Out

In case you missed it, Bill Nye the Science Guy and the Planetary Society team launched LightSail, a project demonstrating the use of sunlight for propulsion. 

It sent back this selfie.

Read more from The New York Times.

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Looks like a space textile to me <3

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This Off the Page conversation between Lucianne Walkowicz and Fred Scharmen has long since passed, but still still lingers on in my mind. It’s food for thought if you’re interested in what it means to pursue life in space.  

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Space Policy Edition: Destination…Mars? Contradictions and Principles

The Senate just held a hearing on NASA's efforts to send humans to...Mars? A week later, the same committee advanced legislation to extend the life of the International Space Station to 2030, six years beyond the current end-date and two years beyond the current hardware safety ratings.

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Being Here or There

As a self-directed student of Space I have a lot of catching up to do. The process feels a bit like window-shopping. I’m poking my head in doors - visiting the National Air & Space Museum in DC, listening to the Planetary Radio pod-cast, watching old television specials on space exploration, and listening to discussions about what it means to settle space. 

It’s exciting, and terrifying, and humbling the process of exploration. When I took Latin in highschool, I learned more about English than Latin. As I study space, I learn more about humanity than the stars. I attended a local conversation series called “Off the Page” where Astrophysicist Lucian Walkowicz made a similar observation: that Space puts Earth in context, that is, as we study space we learn more about our own planet because space provides a backdrop for exploring new ideas. 

We can learn about Here without going There, but the contrast between Here & There provides inspiration. Sci-fi-architect expert Fred Scharmen (in converstaion with Luci Walkowicz) described it as the joy of thinking about problems in a new way. 

One of the questions I keep asking, as I expose myself to discussions around space exploration is simply “why?” --- that is, why go? it’s so far away, and so volitile, and so beyond everything we know --- so why do we make the effort? As I dip my toe in the matter I’m overwhelmed with answers. I focused on this one, from Ursula K Leguin in the Left Hand of Darkness - 

“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.” 

These are dark times for our planet, politically, environmentally, economically we are stressed. But hold our troubled planet up to any other in our solar system and ours is the better place for a human being to live/thrive. Being here (despite all the obstacles) is easier than being there. But even knowing this we explore space, because we think it might be possible that we’ll find the answer to our complicated problems there. Because we don’t know if the question of life on another planet is an unanswerable one. We are still learning.  

The contrast of space provides prospective. Gaining prospective is something artists regularly practice in their work. You are constantly having to remind yourself to step back and examine your art from a distance to get a better idea of how the composition is coming together. You can see the problems more clearly from a distance than you can close up. We find solutions faster this way. But you can’t just step back, you have to step up too. You can’t just go there, you have to be here. 

What to do with the perspective gained? How do we organize our thoughts on space? how do we use these answers we’ve collected? Can we agree on what we’re learning for? Do we need to agree? Because space is so costly an exploration, I think it’s very important to consider these questions and work toward some sort of agreement. That’s why I’m interested in the guide-post the Planetary Society recently set in their Principles for Human Space Flight. We can’t be “here or there” about space exploration. I think we have to be both.

[arevori]

So glad to see you posting again. I'm very excited to read your journals. Good luck to you!

thanks!

[arevori]

Space to Imagine

When I was young, and sleeping under a poster of David Bowie, space seemed unreal. A landscape for the imagination- aptly named- providing space to talk about new possibilities. It meant science fiction. It wasn’t till this year that I began to seriously consider the reality of space. Space being explored, governed, industrialized - here and now as I live and breathe.

I hadn’t considered my skill set - as a creative, and as a seamstress - to be applicable to space exploration. But of course it would take a massive amount of creative thinking, and collaboration to reach the stars. I had the extreme good fortune to meet the woman CEO of an MLI Blanket Company back in April. Seeing someone like myself working in the space industry opened my mind to a whole new realm of possibility. My creative endeavors have for the most part been married to imagined spaces. But what about imagining SPACE?

I made this tumblr while I was still an art student, learning about smart textiles: the potential for art, fabric, and tech to overlap in soft-circuitry. I’m returning to it now as a blogspace, to journal, and develop my thoughts around textiles and how they overlap with the space industry. The writing will be sketchbook quality - a way of quickly expressing ideas, so that they can be refined and developed later. I’m keeping the sketchbook open because I want space to be open. I want to see more people like me thinking and talking about space in a very real way. 

[arevori]

Soft Circuit: Version 1

Disclaimer

Once again, very excited to be exhibiting Holding-Hands for the first time today, despite technical difficulties. In the coming weeks I hope to have more for you on where the problem is. When it comes to building your own tech the issue could be coming from anything from a crossed wire, to a missing semi-colon, to a dead battery; it's a mysterious medium, but worth the effort. With any luck Holding-Hands will be running soon!

For now I'll share the circuit with you (even though it may be flawed) so you can get an idea of what the process involves and maybe spot the problem if you happen to have experience with tech (I'm pretty new at this, but learning more all the time). 

Soft Circuit

As a base for developing this circuit I borrowed from SparkFun's blanket design (here https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/heating-pad-hand-warmer-blanket) 

In my draft of this design I kept the MOSFET, heating pads, battery, and button switch, and removed the 3 LEDs and battery switch. 

Here's what the final circuit looks like:

The heating pad and servo motor are off to the left and right, but you can see where their wires attach (as labeled). 

I attached the LilyPad and the rest of the electronic components to a piece of cloth separate from the Holding-Hands scarf, so that it could be removed and tweaked if necessary. The button is not attached in this image (though I've labeled Pin2 where it is connected) because It's sewn on to the surface of the scarf (exposed for easy access). I connected it to the circuit after I installed it inside the scarf.

I made the circuit for the Heating Pads first and then coated the conductive thread stitches with clear nail polish (to help prevent fraying and crossed wires). Then I sewed the circuit for the Servo Motors. Lastly, I installed the button and sewed the whole cloth circuit into the scarf. 

When I installed the circuit in the scarf I left an opening in the middle for easy access to the circuit for maintenance (battery changing) and also sewed pouches for the LiPo battery to sit secure in. When I have the final circuit ready I'll be creating a more thorough tutorial on how this circuit is made, but this gives you a general idea of what the process involves. 

I showed the first draft of how the servo works in a test a couple weeks ago. Since then I've added a protective box to house the servo and keep it's movement from interference. 

The heating pad is folded in half and secured in its own pouch (use heat resistant cloth as a precaution). This is inserted into the hand at the palm, in-between the fabric outside and the cardboard skeleton.

[arevori]

Holding Hands Code (Version 1)

Disclaimer

Today is the first Exhibition of the Holding-Hands project! I'm excited to have the opportunity to share my concept with the Students of Johns Hopkins today. I've been working for three weeks refining the arduino code and building the circuit. As of right now the smart scarf is not working - I suspect the problem is the power supply: the scarf is battery operated with the servo motors and LilyPad arduino running on a 4V LiPo battery and the to 5V heating pads running off of 2 3V coin cell batteries. 

I'm posting the first draft of this code and the circuit (though they are not fully functional as of yet) so that you can see the process, and maybe give me some pointers if you happen to be an expert in arduino/soft circuits (fingers crossed)

Hoping to have Holding-Hands running soon!

Holding-Hands Code (for LilyPad Arduino)

This code was developed using SparkFuns Heating Pad Hand Warmer Blanket tutorial (here https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/heating-pad-hand-warmer-blanket) and the arduino servo sweep code (here http://arduino.cc/en/reference/servo) as a base and then refined with the generous help of Kendal Ackerman.

First, the comments in the gray font provide some basic information about the project and what the code is meant to do. Just below I've attached the servo library (#include). Then I declared the Global Variables: The button (pin2), the Mosfet/heating pad (pin3), and the servo motors (pin9). I also made some specifications for the default positions/functions of the button and motor (boolean state, position- "int pos=0) 

In the void setup I set my inputs and outputs. The input will be the button, and the outputs will be the heating pad (previously declared as the "fetPin") and the servo motor (here named "myservo")

The Void Loop is the part of the code where you give directions for the arduino to repeat. In the first section of the loop the arduino checks the button (is it pressed?) and if the button is switched on it will carry out the instructions below. Where ever you see a delay that gives the arduino (which thinks super fast about everything simultaneously) time to carry out each function (so we can see it). 

In the next section of the void loop is the Heating Pad control function, which says if the  button is off then there should be no power (or 0) going to the heating pad (fetPin). If the button is on, then there should be full power (or 255) going to the heating pad. The break in this case is functioning like the delay (letting the arduino take a breathe for a second).

In the final section of the code we specify the movement of the motor through the Servo Control Function. The arduino checks the button: If the case is true and the button is off, then the motor should be in the resting position. If the case is false and the button is on, then the servo sweeps, increasing by increments of 1 every 15miliseconds until it reaches 180 degrees, then it goes back down. Finally it waits 1 minute before repeating the sweep (60000milisecond delay). 

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Come see Holding-Hands and other great works from MICA and Rotterdam students!

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A little experiment. Still waiting on the MOSFET and FTDI cable for the final circuit, but in the meantime I'm working the code on the arduino with a cardboard skeleton. Looks like its going to work!

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Holding-Hands is moving! First Arduino-Servo experiment - now to refine the materials and code.

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Technology

I talked a little bit about the technology going into Holding-Hands in my earlier post "Materials & Resources." I've since made some adjustments to the project, and expanded upon the tech components which I will detail here.

A couple weeks ago I ordered the Lilypad arduino, 2 5V heating pads, 2 servo motors, and conductive thread. Though I'm new to the Lilypad, I chose it over the arduino Uno because it can be sewn directly into the project and is much less bulky. The coding is the same, but the board can only support 2-5 Volts (so using the board to power all the components would fry it). Therefore I've added a few more components to the list to fix the power issue (these will be coming in the mail soon). 

Here's what I have so far:

A. 5V Heating Pads: I ordered two of these from SparkFun here: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11289

I also found a helpful tutorial for installing the heating pads which includes the circuit and code (very similar to the plans I'll soon be releasing for this project) https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/heating-pad-hand-warmer-blanket

The heating pads will be hooked up to their own power sources independent of the arduino. They will still communicate with the arduino through a MOSFET

MOSFET: A MOSFET allows you to control high powered devices with microcontrolers (low powered controllers like the Lilypad). The MOSFET acts as a programable power switch, with three legs: one to the arduino pin, one to the heating pad, and one to the power source. I ordered two of these from SparkFun https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10213

Here's a helpful introduction to the MOSFET from bildr: http://bildr.org/2012/03/rfp30n06le-arduino/

B. Lilypad Arduino: This component will serve as our controller: a mediator between the code and our components (input and output). The Lillypad comes in many designs (some with less pins, some with direct USB plug in) I ordered the 328 Main Board, and realized upon arrival that I still needed a battery hook up (which is another pad with its own special battery) and an FTDI cable (to plug the arduino into the computer for uploading the code). I just order the cable here: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9717  But there are other options (buying a LilyPad FTDI Basic Breakout board & cable Or buy the LilyPad Arduino USB version with a micro-USB cable)

C. Lithium Polymer Quick Charger: A battery charger for the 3.7V battery (from SparkFun)

D. LilyPad LiPower & LiPo battery: These components supply power to the LilyPad https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11260

E. Servo Motor: Two motors (one in each hand) will turn and tighten threads connected to the digits of the hand, causing them to close together. The servo motor I ordered comes with a variety of wing pieces (in the plastic bag next to the servo). 

Here are some servo refereces I'm using for the project: Explaination-https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Specs-feature=player_embedded&v=vUOBiCWwJjo#t=349shttp://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/datasheets/Robotics/Hitec-HS-425BB-Servo-Specsheet.pdf

Coding-http://arduino.cc/en/reference/servo

F. Button: Lastly, you're going to need a button to turn the Holding-Hands on and off. There are many kinds of buttons/switches but each operate on the same basic idea: push the button, close the circuit, supply power = ON. The button I have pictured here is a temporary solution. Ideally I would make my project touch activated (so that the hands would be on whenever the scarf was being worn). I'm still working on this, so for now we'll use a button - I've ordered this button (a flat sewable on-off switch) https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9350

In addition to these components you'll need Conductive Thread, Connective Wire, and batteries (LiPo or Coin Cell) These will connect the components and power them. 

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Holding-Hands Assembly

Holding-Hands is being developed in three parts - Textile, Technology, and Code. These three elements can be addressed in any order or simultaneously. 

Textile: this includes the soft, visible, parts of the project: The scarf, two hands, and decorative touches. The process involves pattern making, hand sewing, and machine sewing. 

Technology: this category refers to the mechanical parts of the project: the servo motors, the hand skeleton, the heating pads, arduino, and hook up wire. Basically, any parts needed to operate Holding-Hands. The process involves some knowledge of basic circuitry, and access to a laser cutter.

Code: this is where we communicate with the technology and make it do something: in this case we want the servo motors to move periodically, and the heating pads to get warm, when we turn the scarf on. The process involves some knowledge of basic arduino coding.

[arevori]

Flattening Patterns

This is the tricky part. When you take your tape pattern off of the hand it's going to be a three dimensional form. To make a flat pattern you must make a few strategic cuts (which will look like 'V' shapes). 

1) Cut open the form

2) Remove glove layer, peeling back gently

3) Make a small cut where the form folds over on itself

4) Continue making 'V' cuts until the form can be completely unfolded and lays flat on a piece of paper

5) You may need to make similar cuts at the bottom of the form

6) Lay the tape pattern flat on a piece of paper and trace with a marker

7) Don't forget to label each piece and mark the hash marks

8) Cut out the pattern

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THANK YOU

Just want to say a thank you to all of my brave, and generous volunteers for lending me your hands. I'm looking forward to holding hands with you in the future!