Developed by a team of UC Berkeley students, Skintillates is a wearable technology that mimics tattoos.

When you think of temporary tattoos, you likely think of something that comes out of a gumball dispenser, or perhaps “art” that you got on a spring break trip. As interesting as those may be, Skintillates is taking things to the next level.

These “epidermal wearable interactive devices” can serve as everything from passive and active on-skin displays, to capacitive and resistive sensors for controlling gadgets, to strain gauges for posture detection.

Using several layers allows these designs to stick to the skin, integrate various electronics, and have visible art for others to see. Electronics can mean that the tattoos can integrate sensors, or perhaps even LEDs. In at least one case, these lights are programmed to flash along with the beat of music, driven by an Arduino hidden under the wearer’s clothing.

Just like the traditional temporary tattoos often worn by children and adults alike, Skintillates flex naturally with the user’s skin. Our simple fabrication technique also enables users to freely design and print with a full range of colors to create application-specific customized designs.

You can find more on this project on the Hybrid Ecologies Lab page and read the team’s entire paper here.

(Photos: Eric Paulos)

Developed by researchers at the University of Applied Sciences in Linz, the proCover is a sensor-enabled smart sock that adds sensations to current prosthetic limbs.

Although work on more advanced prostheses continues, commercially available limbs still lack tactile feedback. The proCover addresses this not by modifying or replacing the prosthesis, but by using a sock with piezoresistive force sensors embedded in it. This allows for the user to tell where on a foot it’s being touched, as well as the pressure applied, and it can be set up to suit a user’s needs.

Feedback is provided by vibrating rings that can also be placed on a user’s body where convenient. A version that detects how far a prosthetic knee is bent has also been tested.

The design and construction of prostheses that can emulate a natural sense of touch is of growing research interest. Over the last few decades, a number of solutions have been developed for the detection of pressure, slip, heat and texture… However, many of the exciting innovations in this field will likely remain out of reach for most people due to a multitude of factors pertaining to cost, accessibility, health status, and personal attitudes towards elective surgery. We introduce proCover, a low-cost sensing wearable in the form of a textile sock that can be applied retroactively to lower-limb prosthetics to make sensing capabilities more broadly accessible to those who rely on these assistive devices.

You can find more information in the project’s 12-page paper or in this TechCrunch article for a slightly shorter summary.

(Photos: Media Interaction Lab)

Developed by researchers at the University of Applied Sciences in Linz, the proCover is a sensor-enabled smart sock that adds sensations to current prosthetic limbs.

Although work on more advanced prostheses continues, commercially available limbs still lack tactile feedback. The proCover addresses this not by modifying or replacing the prosthesis, but by using a sock with piezoresistive force sensors embedded in it. This allows for the user to tell where on a foot it’s being touched, as well as the pressure applied, and it can be set up to suit a user’s needs.

Feedback is provided by vibrating rings that can also be placed on a user’s body where convenient. A version that detects how far a prosthetic knee is bent has also been tested.

The design and construction of prostheses that can emulate a natural sense of touch is of growing research interest. Over the last few decades, a number of solutions have been developed for the detection of pressure, slip, heat and texture… However, many of the exciting innovations in this field will likely remain out of reach for most people due to a multitude of factors pertaining to cost, accessibility, health status, and personal attitudes towards elective surgery. We introduce proCover, a low-cost sensing wearable in the form of a textile sock that can be applied retroactively to lower-limb prosthetics to make sensing capabilities more broadly accessible to those who rely on these assistive devices.

You can find more information in the project’s 12-page paper or in this TechCrunch article for a slightly shorter summary.

(Photos: Media Interaction Lab)

The BITalino is great for biohacking — hook up the sensors and play Classic Pong with a swing of your wrist.

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The post Use BITalino to Graph Your Biosignals and Play Pong! appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

Redditor SexyCyborg–who you may recall from her Hikaru Skirt last year–is back with another Arduino-driven, open-source wearable project. Inspired by traditional Chinese armor, the aptly named Infinity Skirt features an array of LED-lit mirror tiles that together form a flexible, reconfigurable matrix. Safe to say, she’ll certainly turn some heads at this October’s Maker Faire Shenzhen.

Every tile measures 66mm on each edge, and has four magnetic electrical conductors that can link it to it’s neighboring tile. So long as each row and column gets power, there is endless variations that can be tried. With an Arduino and LED matrix controller, each individual tile can be controlled so complex patterns can play across the surface. This is just a first prototype though so all the lights get power continuously and there is no matrix control.

You can find more pictures of her build on Imgur, download all the skirt’s 3D files on Thingiverse, as well as read Adafruit’s original article here.

Do you want to be the very best? Do you want to become a Pokemon Go master? Then here are 5 projects to help you level up and catch 'em all.

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The post 5 Projects Fit for a Pokemon Go Master appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) is a great bluetooth solution for your electronics product even if energy use isn't a factor.

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The post How to Develop a Sellable Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) Product appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

You’ve heard it before, smoking is bad for your health. However, despite the countless warnings, millions of people continue to use cigarettes–including 7th grade student Petter’s dad. Mindful of this, the young Maker came up with a new way to shame smokers into quitting.

The aptly named “Cigarette Smoke Detecting Shirt” consists of an Arduino LilyPad, a smoke sensor, and three LED sequins, all sewn into the t-shirt using conductive thread. When cigarette smoke is sensed, one of three different lights illuminate alongside a message to embarrass the wearer such as “stinky breath,” “yellow teeth,” or “lung cancer.”

In the future, Petter hopes to finish the prototype and start making more shirts to sell on Etsy. Whether or not this idea takes off, it’s pretty cool nonetheless. As Adafruit puts it, “This is such a fine example of a project that works on an issue and gets students excited about STEM.”

Do you have an old cellphone lying around somewhere? Don’t know what to do with it? Time to blow off that dust and convert the ‘dumb’ device into a smartwatch? This is exactly what Tinkernut has done. His DIY wearable not only tells time, but connects wirelessly to his smartphone over Bluetooth and notifies him of incoming calls and text messages via light and vibration.

Cosmic Bitcasting is a digital art and science project emerging from the idea of connecting the human body with the cosmos by creating a wearable device with embedded light, sound and vibration that will provide sensory information on the invisible cosmic radiation that surrounds us. This open-source project actually works by detecting secondary muons generated by cosmic rays hitting the Earth’s atmosphere that pass through the body.

Artist Afroditi Psarra and experimental physicist Cécile Lapoire worked together to develop a prototype of the wearable cosmic ray detector during a one-month residency at Etopia in Zaragoza, and is currently on display at the Etopia-Center for Art and Technology in Zaragoza as part of the exhibition REVERBERADAS.

Cosmic Bitcasting is comprised of an Arduino Lilypad, High Flex 3981 7×1 fach Kupfer blank conductive thread from Karl Grimm, Pure Copper Polyester Taffeta Fabric by Less EMF, white SMD LEDs, a coin cell vibration motor, and an IRL3103 MOSFET with a 100 Ohm resistor to drive the motor.

Intrigued? Take a look at the video below and read the diary of the residency to learn more!