Openwear Kete Hangarite Mauā Mau Kākahu by Leijing Zhou

Openwear Kete Hangarite Mauā Mau Kākahu by Leijing Zhou is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award Rino in Hoahoa Pūkaha Hua me te Hoahoa Hangarau Competition Category.

RinoPūkaha· 2024

Openwear Kete Hangarite Mauā Mau Kākahu

by Leijing Zhou

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award Rino Winner in Pūkaha 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 Kete Hangarite Mauā Mau Kākahu

Ko Openwear he kete taputapu hei hanga tauira hangarau kākahu mā-ā-tinana i roto i te wā poto. Kei roto i te kete he papa whakawhanake USB Lilypad kua whakarerekētia, tekau mā tahi ngā waeine hou i hoahoatia, me ngā taura hono tere. Kei ia waeine tētahi papa iti whakauru, whakaputa rānei, me ngā pine e ono, 3 mm te whānui o tēnā, o tēnā. Kua whakapiritia ngā autō 10 mm te whānui ki te tuarā o ngā papa, nā reira ka piri ngā wāhanga ki ngā kākahu mā te pēpa autō, kaua mā te tuitui. Ka honoa ngā pine mā ngā hononga-O me ngā puru rino. Ka taea te hanga, te whakamātau, me te whakarōpū anō i ngā tauira i runga tonu i te kaka.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Rino

Ko Openwear Kete Hangarite Mauā Mau Kākahu te toa o te A' Design Award Rino, he whakaaetanga whai mana e hoatu ana ki ngā hoahoa pai e whakatutuki ana i ngā hiahia ngaio me te ahumahi e tūmanakohia ana mai i ngā mahi kua hoahoatia pai. Ko ngā toa Rino e whakaatu ana i te pukenga nui, te tohungatanga teitei, te māramatanga mātanga me te kaha auaha o ō rātou kaihanga. E tūmanakohia ana ko Openwear Kete Hangarite Mauā Mau Kākahu he mahi whakanuia, whakamīharotia, aroha nui, he whaihua, he auaha hoki. Ko tēnei hoahoa i toa i te Rino e whakakotahi ana i ngā tikanga pai rawa o te ahumahi, ā, he āhuatanga hangarau pūkenga tōna e hono ana ki te mōhio me te pūmanawa. E whakahonoretia ana a Openwear Kete Hangarite Mauā Mau Kākahu mō tōna tōtika, ā, i hoahoatia hei whakapai ake i te kounga o te oranga me te āwhina i te ao kia pai ake.

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