Lilypad Arduino LightScarf

Working with Lilypad Arduino is something I’ve wanted to try for a while now - but simply haven’t found the time! Knowing that BarCampGeelong was only a few weeks away spurred me into action. First, I read up on the Lilypad Arduino tutorials from Leah Buechley. Running Ubuntu, I had already installed the Arduino IDE from the software manager, so I was good to go.

So, what sort of project was simple enough to allow me to get the hang of this new technology while still presenting enough of a challenge to be interesting? I decided on a scarf that would detect light levels, with the aim of turning on some bright white LEDs if light levels were too low.

First, I needed a scarf. I decided on this Dropped! lace openwork pattern so that the components could be sewn in with conductive thread and not look out of place. I also thought about what type of material to make the scarf out of - in case any of the electronic components overheated and melted or caught on fire. I chose a 98% wool blend - ‘Beulah’ by Sean Sheep - nice and cheap too in case the project didn’t work out.

Next, I needed some Arduino Lilypad components - which are now available in Australia from Little Bird Electronics. For this project, I used;

Lilypad main board - http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/lilypad-arduino-328-main-board
Lilypad light sensor - http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/lilypad-light-sensor
Lilypad e-sewing kit with conductive thread - http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/lilypad-e-sewing-kit
Lilypad power supply - http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/lilypad-power-supply

Then, I needed some Arduino code to read in the light sensor and do the logic for turning on the LEDs - [you can get the code from my page on GitHub](https://github.com/KathyReid/ArduinoLightDetectingScarf). Once the Arduino board was programmed, it was time to sew in the components with conductive thread. It was here that some problems arose. My original plan was to have 5 LEDs on the scarf, which all lit up at the same time. When sewing the conductive thread, I found that I could only sew in one LED to the -tive terminal (ground) petal on the Lilypad Arduino.

*NOTE: Andy Gelme (@Geekscape) has since given me some advice on working around this, by finding alternative methods to ground the LEDs. I just haven't implemented it yet!*

The other problem was that due to the openwork design of the scarf itself, some of the conductive thread was prone to crossing - which meant that the circuit didn't work as designed. I unpicked the thread and it was resewn, with care given to making sure the wire did not cross.

The presentation given to BarCampGeelong can be found on Slideshare here;

<http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid/not-your-nannas-knitting-my-first-lilypad-arduino-project>

UPDATED: Photos! http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathyreid/sets/72157627158152752/

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