This wearable device is bringing everyday objects to life

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TagMe is an easy-to-use toolkit for turning personal info into an extended communications interface.

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Created by MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group, TagMe is an end-user toolkit for easy creation of responsive objects and environments. It consists of a wearable device that is capable of recognizing the object or surface a user is touching through the use of RFID stickers. These tags are read by an RFID bracelet whenever the user comes in close proximity of the item.

“We present a novel approach to create simple and customizable rules based on emotional attachment to objects and social interactions of people. Using this simple technology, the user can extend their application interfaces to include physical objects and surfaces into their personal environment, allowing people to communicate through everyday objects in very low effort ways,” its team writes.

The wearable was 3D-printed using ABS materials, and its electronic components were embedded on one half of the bracelet, while a battery was placed on the other half. Both halves were then connected via a magnetic closing system. The bracelet also includes an Android application that interfaces with Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS.

“To endow the bracelet with the communication capability between the application and RFID tags, we used different types of electronic components. One of our goals was to make the bracelet as small and lightweight as possible so as to be comfortable being worn on the wrist all day.”

In order to accomplish this, the team used a mini RFID reader along with an ATmega168 MCU to control the entire system, a Bluetooth module to facilitate wireless communication and a polymer Lithium-ion battery to power the device.

According to its creators, TagMe can be implemented in a variety of applications, ranging from healthcare and personal relationships to home automation. The system can be used to create convenient “emergency” buttons, like in the event of a car accident, where by simply touching a tag, a notification is sent directly to 911 dispatchers. Beyond that, a social aspect of the project can enable reminders of things, people and places, or be deployed to stay in touch with friends and loved ones. For instance, every time a user touches a present that someone gave to them, an alert is sent to that person.

Want to learn more? You can read the project’s entire paper here, and watch it in action below.

Building a wearable suit that can control things with your muscles

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Maker creates a wearable sensor suit that reads SEMG and uses those muscle signals to control things. 

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When you flex a muscle, it gives off a surface electromyography signal, which is commonly referred to as SEMG. After years of working with circuity designed to read muscle signals, Maker David Nghiem decided to create an SEMG pod that was capable of measuring the level of muscle activation and using those signals to control things.

To accomplish this feat, Nghiem used a combination of an Arduino (ATmega328P) to drive the digital circuitry, a bunch of op amps to read the SEMG signals, a half-wave rectifier to handle the negative aspects of the signals, and LEDs to display the signal levels. In particular, the Maker notes that the primary function of the Arduino is to control the digital potentiometer, as well as to map and output the resulting signals to the LED driver.

The concept initially originated as part of a senior project way back in the late ‘90s, and eventually went on to became the idea behind a startup that unfortunately did not succeed. However, Nghiem did learn from the adventure and offered a tidbit of advice that all Makers can appreciate. He explains, “Still, I learned a ton from that experience. Like who to trust, not to trust, what advice is solid, and what advice is pure crap. In any case, I figure documenting your failures so you learn from them, is far more important than successes.”

At its earliest stage, the basis of the SEMG pod was to apply an opposing force to the arm in order to help prevent muscle deterioration in astronauts while in space. It had been devised in collaboration with the MIT Aero Astro Lab and the Boston University Neuromuscular Research Center. This would then go on to spark another idea after a late night jog in his parent’s neighborhood.

“The SEMG product concept started out in 2009 when I was running down a 3-mile route nearby my parent’s home, and the road in particular is dark at night. There are few street lamps, and cars go down at a limit of 40mph, but let’s be honest, most people don’t give two $#!ts about speed limits. There’s no sidewalk, and barely any shoulder. As I ran, I wondered if I could use the SEMG signal from my legs to control a light pattern to warn oncoming cars with a non patterned light show, like how some animals have vivid colors to ward off potential predators with a show of flair — that also meant they were poisonous,” he writes.

After making use of SEMG signals to control robotics along with the versatile capabilities of Arduino, Nghiem had an initial prototype. Looking ahead to a much prettier, more functional wearable device, he acquired a LilyPad Arduino (ATmega328) — this was before the days of Adafruit FLORA — to route the SEMG data through and then sewed it onto a bicycle jersey. Upon completing this model, he still encountered several problems, including having to integrate the unit make it more compact, making it more flexible and improving its sweat resistance. So, he threw that entire design out.

Back at the drawing board, for the next iteration he tried incorporating a MIL-Spec shielded cable, modifying the electrode placement methods on his sleeve, affixing the backs of the electrodes with velcro and transitioning to a bigger analog pot. Unfortunately, he was still coming across some difficulties, such as random shorts and connection issues, no digital control, and lack of LED lights to indicate signal levels.

And after some more tinkering, he found himself closer to a final product. You can check out Nghiem’s well-detailed project log here, along with the videos showing his project at various stages.

Disco Dog is a smartphone-controlled LED vest for man’s best friend

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The Disco Dog LED vest will flash “LOST DOG” if Fido strays too far.

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We love flashing LEDs. We love dogs. We love wearables. So, what do you get when you combine each of those? Disco Dog, a smartphone-controlled vest for any true party animal, which has recently launched on Kickstarter. Created by New York City creative firm PARTY, the pup-adorned gadget enables pet owners to activate animated light patterns and custom scrolling text in thousands of colors via an accompanying app.

Not only will the vest keep your dog visible, and most importantly safe, in the dark, it’s also a fun way to celebrate certain occasions. Owners can choose from a variety of animated modes, including sparkle, stripes, firefly and alarm, as well as turn on text mode to type in their own message. Meaning, you can spread holiday cheer throughout city sidewalks with seasonal greetings, use man’s best friend as an attention-grabbing advertisement, or simply adjust its color to match your daily outfit. What’s more, if Fido happens to stray and the connection is lost, the Disco Dog will automatically display a “LOST DOG” message, encouraging bystanders to help the lost pup find her way back.

The neoprene vest, which comes in three sizes, is decked out with 256 RGB LED lights, a microcontroller, a BLE module, and a rechargeable battery to ensure that you are always ready to illuminate your nightly dog-walking experience. The Disco Dog app is currently available for iOS and Android devices.

Sound like something you and your pup would like? Head over to its official Kickstarter page, where the PARTY team is currently seeking $15,000. Shipment is expected to begin later this year. In other words, with a projected shipping date of November 2015, you can expect to see some four-legged models sporting tricked-out red and green vests on the streets just in time for Christmas.

Building a DIY Enigma machine wristwatch

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Maker creates a fully-functioning, self-contained Enigma machine that you can wear on your wrist.

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Though the jury may still be out when it comes to widespread smartwatch adoption, you can’t help but want to adorn your wrist with this DIY project. Designed by Maker “Asciimation” the Enigma wristwatch is a fully-functional, self-contained device that replicates the original cryptographic machine, which was used to cipher secret messages in the 20th century. Early versions of the so-called uncrackable tool had been made available starting in the early 1920s, and adopted by the military and government services of several countries including Germany.

Inspired by a recent trip to Bletchley Park, home of the WW2 code breakers, the Maker decided to build his own three-rotor Enigma machine and housed it in a wristwatch.

“To cut a long story short my aim is to recreate a Bombe using Orwell, the little 8-bit computer I have built. In order to know how a Bombe works you need to know how an Enigma machine works (and is used). And the best way to know how something works is to build it yourself,” he writes.

Driven by an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328), the wearable features an OLED screen with a resolution of 128 x 64, a three brass button interface and a LiPo battery. In addition, the device is equipped with an on/off switch and a recharging socket along its left and right side, respectively.

As you can imagine, a number of button presses are required to set up each of the three encoder wheels. Its two leftmost buttons act as directional selectors, while the rightmost button is used to choose items from its interface. Side-to-side selections are indicated on the display by left and right arrows.

After turning on the machine, any key press will take you through a series of screens to view and adjust its settings, ranging from its rotor to plug board to reflectors, before finally arriving at the encoder. From there, the left and right buttons let you select the letter to encode. As you encode each one, the display reveals the current rotor positions and the encoded letter in a ticker. The ticker shows five letter groups as this is how Enigma messages were transmitted by radio.

You read all about it on its official page here, or watch it in action below.

Pebble pledges $1M to make smartstraps a reality

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Pebble has pledged $1 million towards development of modular accessories for its latest Time and Time Steel smartwatches.

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A few weeks ago, Pebble launched a Kickstarter campaign for its Pebble Time smartwatch. To date, the record-shattering gadget has already garnered nearly $20 million and has been at the center of all the wearable buzz as of late. Aside from the unveiling of its premium Steel counterpart during Mobile World Congress, another big piece of news has proven to be the announcement of modular smartstraps. This open hardware component of Pebble Time will enable Makers, developers and designers alike to create their own add-ons for the device. Better yet, Pebble is now betting big on the initiative by pledging $1 million to fund its development and commercialization.

“If you have an idea and want to be part of the smartstrap revolution, this is your chance! Get a team together, build a prototype and put your project up on a crowdfunding platform. Our team will work to help bring your idea to life,” Pebble writes.

Smartstraps open the door to a wide-range of possibilities, including standalone cellular capabilities, NFC, GPS and even heart rate monitors. Pebble says these bands will be easily interchangeable, and can be swapped out in as little as five to 10 seconds.

In the days following its announcement, the Pebble crew received countless ideas, requests, and suggestions for smartstraps. Two of their earliest favorites came direct from notable names in the Maker community: Spark.io and SeeedStudio.

Seeed Studio has revealed that they will be producing a Pebble Time connector for their Arduino-compatible Xadow boards (ATmega32U4) later this year. Meanwhile, a recent Spark.io prototype demonstrated how an Electron could be used to untether a Pebble and connect directly to the cellular network.

“We are big fans of Seeed and their Xadow modules. They offer 20+ strap-sized modules, which include NFC readers, OLED displays, barometers and GPS modules, and we hear a Heart Rate Sensor is coming soon! The upcoming Xadow adapter for Pebble Time will make prototyping new smartstraps very simple and affordable.”

Keeping in line with its crowdfunding tradition, Pebble is encouraging Makers to get together, devise prototypes and put their projects up on Kickstarter. The team adds, “We will monitor Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms for smartstrap related projects that support Pebble devices, and we’ll back the best of them. We truly understand the value of backing projects in their early state, having started that way ourselves.”

Want to learn more? Head over to its official page now.

HIRIS is “a wearable computer, for everyone”

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HIRIS lets you control the devices around you with the flick of your wrist or wave of your hand. 

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When it comes to wearables, it seems as though a vast majority of them revolve around fitness tracking. You know, keeping tabs on things like heart rate, steps taken, distance walked, calories burned, among many others. While those features may be enough for some, it’s certainly not for the team behind HIRIS. Earlier this year, the Italian startup launched what they’re billing as “the first wearable computer, for everyone,” which is currently live on Indiegogo.

Unlike other devices with one component, the sleek, hexagonal HIRIS comes in two units: the HIRIS Tracker and HIRIS Core. As its name implies, the Tracker gathers movement data typically seen on a number of today’s popular smart bands, especially the health conscious. What really sets it apart is that it can be used either independently or in conjunction with the Core. The Tracker can be placed anywhere and on anything, from ankles and knees to snowboards and tennis racquets. Whether by itself or in a group, the splash-proof gadget communicates in real-time, streaming this information to your Core, computer or smartphone.

Meanwhile, the Core not only performs basic functions like collecting activity data and social networking, but responds to gesture commands as well. This enables you to take control of your smartphone, connected home devices such as Philips Hue lights or Nest Thermostat, turn up your Spotify radio during a workout, your GoPro camera while in mid-action, and even your drone, all with the flick of a wrist or a wave of the hand.

Based on three 32-bit MCUs, the HIRIS packs a small OLED-display, a set of sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, humidity, temperature, pressure, and heart rate), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy modules, as well as the battery capacity of 200 mAh. What’s nice, its modular design allows wearers to expand upon the device’s hardware, adding capabilities like GPS and audio through extension cards. HIRIS comes with its an accompanying, which is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows, and includes a wireless charger pad.

Sound like something you’d want to adorn to your body? Head over to its official Indiegogo page, where the team is currently seeking $80,000. Shipment to early bird backers is slated for September 2015, with the rest of deliveries expected to begin in October 2015.

iSkin stickers could turn your body into a touchscreen

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These Arduino-compatible sensors will turn your skin into a touch-sensitive interface for your mobile devices.

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Sifting through a pocketbook for a ringing smartphone during a meeting can be quite embarrassing. Not to mention, trying to precisely tap out a message on your wrist can draw some attention. While modern-day wearables have given users the ability to glance at their calendar, receive texts and pretty much anything else Dick Tracy could’ve envisioned, the usable interfaces offered by these devices tend to be a bit small, thus making it difficult to accurately select buttons or type an email.

That may soon be a thing of the past if a new experimental project, which is currently being developed by a team of computer scientists from Saarland University and researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, is able to catch on. Inspired by recent advancements in electronic skin technology, iSkin is a thin, flexible and soft silicone overlay that is worn directly on the skin allowing the human body to act as an input surface for mobile human-computer interaction.

“The human skin is recognized as a promising input surface for interactions with mobile and wearable devices. However, it has been difficult to design and implement touch sensors that can be placed directly on the skin,” the team writes.

The stickers enable a wearer to receive and deliver commands on-the-sly, thereby controlling companion mobile devices just as any other wrist-adorned gadget would. Better yet, should one of them only be needed intermittently, the sensors can be removed, rolled up and easily stowed when not in use. Because of the flexible material used, iSkin can be manufactured in a variety of shapes, sizes and personalized designs.

Potential use cases for the stickers include incoming and outgoing calls, controlling music, typing and sending messages, or just anything else typically done on a mobile device. They’re capable of multi-touch functionality and even recognize gestures.

To receive and transmit tactile input, the iSkin houses electrodes sandwiched between the silicone layers. Projected capacitive sensing uses capacitive coupling between the two electrodes, whereas resistive touch sensing relies upon pressure to create a contact through the permeable spacing layer. Bringing a finger close to an electrode reduces the mutual capacitance, while pressure (such as the pressing of one’s finger) creates contact between both electodes and closes the circuit. A black carbon powder connects the electrodes to one another, allowing them to be situated into any design. Meanwhile, the flexible patch is tethered by a ribbon cable to an Arduino-compatible microcontroller (Teensy dev board), which processes the data and drives the sensor.

“Integrating capacitive and resistive touch sensing, the sensor is capable of detecting touch input with two levels of pressure, even when stretched by 30% or when bent with a radius of 0.5 cm. Furthermore, iSkin supports single or multiple touch areas of custom shape and arrangement, as well as more complex widgets, such as sliders and click wheels,” the recently-published paper reveals.

At the moment, the prototypes are hard-wired to a computer. However, the team aspires to integrate chips that will let the stickers to wirelessly communicate with other output devices ranging from smartphones to health monitors. Intrigued? You can read the project’s paper in its entirety here. By the way, this remind us… what ever happened to the Circet Bracelet?

Build your own Moto 360 smartwatch with Moto Maker

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It’s time to create a watch that suits your style. 

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Back in 2013, Motorola launched an innovative web portal, Moto Maker, that enabled users to personalize their own Moto X smartphone. Nearly two years later, that made-to-order feature has now expanded to the company’s Moto 360 smartwatch, which led sales among all Android Wear devices over the last 12 months.

Moto 360 customization options include three different finishes (dark metal, light metal and champagne gold), nine separate band styles (including leather, metal and a slick mono-link design), as well as 11 pre-installed watch face options. Once you get your device, it’s easy to swap watch faces from its collection or through Google Play. This is great news for those simply looking to coordinate with their outfit, or dress it up a bit for a more professional or formal setting.

Without question, it appears that Motorola is looking to take advantage of the Moto 360’s popularity by extending the customization of its flagship product. And given the rise of the DIY culture and their fascination with modularity, having the ability to create something in line with one’s own style is pretty cool. For those with a little fancier taste, both the gold and metal bands come with a premium price of $30 and $50, respectively.

With countless combinations available, there’s a watch that can appeal to every type of personality. In fact, wearers can create their own as well as choose among some of Motorola’s pre-configured samples such as “Professor Hip” with a light finish case and a cognac leather band, “Golden Goddess” with a champagne gold finish case and cognac leather band, and “On-the-Go Stylist” with a finish case and a champagne gold metal band.

As a recent Adafruit teardown revealed, the Moto 360 lineup is powered by an MXT112S capacitive controller — which gives it a nice little touch if we may say so ourselves. Embodying a sleek, round face and Gorilla Glass protective layering, the comfortable device puts everything you need right on your wrist, whether that’s check the weather and traffic or send a text.

Ready to build your own? You can browse through various options and get started on Moto Maker here.

Adafruit unveils the GEMMA v2

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The newest version of the Adafruit GEMMA features an on/off switch and Micro-USB.

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We’re not quite sure as to how we missed this bit of news on #WearableWednesday, however if DIY wearable projects are your thing, then perhaps you’d like know about the brand-spanking new Adafruit GEMMA v2.

The latest version — which is essentially identical to its predecessor in terms of aesthetics and code — has swapped out the Mini-B for a Mirco-B USB connector to provide some more on-board space. With all that new room, the GEMMA now is able to welcome the addition of an on/off switch.

For the 1% of you who are not familiar with Adafruit and its versatile lineup of Atmel based body boards, GEMMA is a tiny wearable MCU that packs a whole lot of awesome in a 1-inch (27mm) diameter area. The mini yet powerful platform is powered by an ATtiny85 and is programmable with the Arduino IDE via USB. It also features a 3.3V regulator with 150mA output capability and ultra-low dropout. Beyond that, v2’s ATtiny85 chip package has switched from SOIC to QFN.

“We designed a USB bootloader so you can plug it into any computer and reprogram it over a USB port just like an Arduino (it uses 2 of the 5 I/O pins, leaving you with 3). In fact, we even made some simple modifications to the Arduino IDE so that it works like a mini-FLORA,” the Adafruit team explains.

Ideal for small and simple projects sewn with conductive thread, the [tinyAVR based] GEMMA fits the needs of nearly every entry-level wearable creation — ranging from reading sensors to driving addressable LED pixels.

“We wanted to design a microcontroller board that was small enough to fit into any project, and low cost enough to use without hesitation. Perfect for when you don’t want to give up your Flora and you aren’t willing to take apart the project you worked so hard to design. It’s our lowest-cost sewable controller.”

Aside from the ATtiny85 MCU, other key hardware specs of GEMMA include:

• Operating Voltage: 3.3V
• Input voltage (recommended): 4-16V via battery port
• Digital I/O pins: 3
• PWM channels: 2
• Analog input channels: 1
• Flash memory: 8KB (ATtiny85) of which 2.75KB used by bootloader
• SRAM: 512 bytes (ATtiny85)
• EEPROM: 512 bytes (ATtiny85)
• Clock speed: 8 MHz
• Micro-USB for USB bootloader

Interested in learning more? Head over to its official page here. Or, watch Adafruit’s Becky Stern show off the new and improved GEMMA v2 below!

Stryd will help you run faster, better and smarter

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Just clip ’n go! Stryd is the world’s first wearable power meter for runners. 

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There are all sorts of wearables on the market today designed to help those exercising track their fitness goals. While a vast majority of these devices are focused around metrics like pace and heart rate, a new startup has sought out to revolutionize the running industry through power.

Created by Princeton engineers (and already supported by some of the biggest names in endurance sports), the aptly-named Stryd provides fitness enthusiasts a new and innovative way to accurately measure run intensity across any type of terrain using the sports watches and mobile devices they already use. This is made possible through its embedded Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ wireless technologies.

The wearable analyzes a run by tracking the environmental conditions and calculating a real-time power in watts through a proprietary sensing technology. As its creators note, long the standard for cycling training, power has been a sought-after run metric for years, yet measuring it hasn’t been possible until now.

“The data runners use in training hasn’t changed much in 30 years. There has never been an accurate or easy way to show training intensity and efficiency, and athletes and coaches have repeatedly told us that holds them back.” said Robert Dick, Ph.D. and Stryd CEO. “Our goal was to provide one number that can consistently help anyone run better, and today Stryd does exactly that.”

How it works is relatively straightforward. To use Stryd, users simply clip the small device onto a pair of sneakers or shorts and begin their regimen. The device then automatically syncs up with pretty much any gadget, computer and coaching software available today, and its battery lasts longer than a year. Starting from the first run, Stryd helps wearers learn their capabilities and establish baseline data to help better understand performance and enhance efficiency.

“Stryd answers run-by-run, day-by-day questions that runners care about,” explains co-founder and coach Gus Pernetz. “Did I pace myself right? Am I overtraining? How is my running form? Until now it has been a lot of guesswork, but Stryd gives runners a better way to measure training intensity. And, with better measurement comes better performance.”

Now live on Kickstarter, the team ran well past its initial goal of $50,000 in a matter of hours. If all goes to plan, Stryd is targeting a mid-summer ship date for the product’s first release, giving priority to running and triathlon coaches followed by athletes who support the crowdfunding campaign.