Openwear Instrumentarium Prototypandi Vestibile by Leijing Zhou

Openwear Instrumentarium Prototypandi Vestibile by Leijing Zhou is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 Praemium A' Design Award Ferreum in Ars Ingeniaria Competition Category.

FerrumArs Ingeniaria· 2024

Openwear Instrumentarium Prototypandi Vestibile

by Leijing Zhou

Client: Zhejiang University

Praemium A' Design Award Ferreum Winner in Ars Ingeniaria Category

53,077

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #159003

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Openwear Instrumentarium Prototypandi Vestibile

Openwear est instrumentarium ad prototypa electronica vestibilia celeriter fabricanda. Instrumentarium continet tabulam evolutionis USB Lilypad modificatam, undecim modulos nuper designatos, et fistulas celeriter connectentes. Quisque modulus scidam initus vel exitus fert, cum sex acubus 3 mm diametri. Magnetes 10 mm diametri parti posteriori tabularum affixi sunt, ut partes vestibus per pulvinos magneticos adhaereant, non per suturam. O-conexus et pernos acus coniungunt. Prototypa in textili ipso construi, probari, et denuo disponi possunt.

The Recognition

About the Praemium A' Design Award Ferreum

Openwear Instrumentarium Prototypandi Vestibile victor est Praemii A' Design Award Ferreum, honoris amplissimi formis bonis dati, quae postulatis professionalibus et industrialibus ab creationibus bene formatis exspectatis satisfaciunt. Victores Ferrei magnam peritiam, altam specializationem, intellectum periti et facultatem creandi auctorum suorum ostendunt. Exspectatur Openwear Instrumentarium Prototypandi Vestibile creationem multum aestimatam, admiratam et carissimam, practicam et novam fore. Haec forma Ferreo victa optimas industriae consuetudines integrat et proprietates technicas idoneas, cum scientia et talento coniunctas, habet. Openwear Instrumentarium Prototypandi Vestibile ob diligentiam suam honoratur et ad vitae qualitatem emendandam formatum est, ut mundum meliorem reddere iuvet.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Openwear is a toolkit for building rapid wearable prototypes. It includes a modified Lilypad USB development board, 11 newly designed modules, and quick connecting cables. This kit facilitates rapid prototyping by enabling quick attachment and connection and allows users to directly build and test prototypes on the intended substrate like clothes.
Dimensions & Packaging: Development board size is ϕ50*1mm, module size is ϕ25*1mm.
Tags: Hardware, Electronic, Toolkit, Wearable, E-textile
Production Technology: For the modules, we have designed 11 different modules with input or output chips contained on each module. Each module has six 3mm diameter pins. For quick fixing, we fixed a 10mm diameter magnet on the bottom of the development board and modules, which works with the magnetic fixing pads to attach to clothes. For quick connects, we used O-connectors and bolts, which work well with the 3mm pin sizes on the PCB.
Design Challenge: The biggest challenge in the whole research was to achieve a rapid fixing and connection of the PCB. We tried a variety of methods including pins, buttons, velcro, and finally we chose to use magnets with O-connectors, which had not been used before.
Research: The success of the LilyPad has resulted in the creation of various development boards, such as the more compact TinyLily and the Circuit Playground with many sensors. However, these variations only modify the dimensions or integrate sensors, without modifying the Lilypad's method for constructing wearable circuits. This method presents a challenge in prototyping wearable circuits: sewing processes are time-consuming and set a high threshold for beginners. Furthermore, the troubleshooting process in wearable circuit prototyping often requires resetting and resewing. Once the development board is integrated into the fabric, the complexity of the debugging code also increases proportionally.
Inspiration: Common wearable circuits often need to be fixed using sewing, which is very cumbersome. To solve this problem, we took inspiration from magnetic buttons. We have embedded magnets in the back of the PCB to fix it using magnetic force.
Project Duration: The project started in August 2023 in Ningbo and finished in January 2024
Operation Flow: 1. Building the First Circuit Prototype: Select modules based on design requirements and assemble them on a flat surface for initial circuit testing and debugging. 2. Continuous Testing and Adjustment of the Circuit: Reconfigure module positions on the body for testing purposes. 3. Building the Final Circuit: Sew components directly onto fabric using conductive yarn or utilize sewing magnet fixing pads as an alternative method. This ensures flexibility and ease of removal.
Team Members: Leijing Zhou
Xin An
Yiqing Zhang
Yang Mao