Openwear Draagbare Prototyping Toolkit by Leijing Zhou

Openwear Draagbare Prototyping Toolkit by Leijing Zhou is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award in IJzer in Producttechniek en Technisch Ontwerp Competition Category.

IJzerTechniek· 2024

Openwear Draagbare Prototyping Toolkit

by Leijing Zhou

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award in IJzer Winner in Techniek 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 Draagbare Prototyping Toolkit

Openwear is een toolkit voor het snel bouwen van draagbare elektronische prototypes. De toolkit bevat een aangepast Lilypad USB-ontwikkelbord, elf nieuw ontworpen modules en snelverbindingskabels. Elke module bevat een input- of outputchip en zes pinnen met een diameter van 3 mm. Magneten met een diameter van 10 mm zijn aan de achterkant van de platen bevestigd, zodat de onderdelen via magnetische pads aan kleding hechten in plaats van door te naaien. O-connectoren en boutjes verbinden de pinnen met elkaar. Prototypes kunnen direct op stof worden gebouwd, getest en herschikt.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in IJzer

Openwear Draagbare Prototyping Toolkit is winnaar van de A' Design Award in IJzer, een prestigieuze erkenning die wordt toegekend aan goede ontwerpen die voldoen aan de professionele en industriële eisen die worden verwacht van goed ontworpen creaties. Winnaars in IJzer tonen grote vaardigheid, hoge specialisatie, deskundig inzicht en het creatieve vermogen van hun makers. Openwear Draagbare Prototyping Toolkit wordt verwacht een hooggewaardeerde, bewonderde en gekoesterde creatie te zijn die praktisch en innovatief is. Dit ontwerp dat de A' Design Award in IJzer heeft gewonnen, integreert de beste praktijken uit de sector en heeft bekwame technische kenmerken die verbonden zijn met knowhow en talent. Openwear Draagbare Prototyping Toolkit wordt gerespecteerd om zijn grondigheid en is ontworpen om verbeteringen van de levenskwaliteit te bieden die helpen de wereld een betere plek te maken.

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