Mind, Body, Clothes

“MIND, BODY, CLOTHES” Room 328 Table #35 Team OHKE DOKE Target Award: KSU Design Innovation: Wearable Technology Solution to Tackle a Social Justice Challenge Blake Charleton, Samson Jiang, Chelsae Miller, Mia Tope

PROJECT IDEA Our project revolves around the idea of helping our user cope with anxiety. Anxiety can cause feelings of panic and fear, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, feeling a lack of control and muscle tension. We tackled just that. We created something that helps you control your anxiety by compressing pressure points, heating muscles, monitor your heart rate and having a soft touch. Our creation allows for the wearer to handle their anxiety in a private manner, remaining calm, collected and in control.

INSPIRATION In our team, a few of us have anxiety and we were relaying to each other the burden it holds over us. For other members in our group, they have either heard of it or know someone with anxiety. So we were inspired by helping each other. It can be stressful trying to calm yourself, depending on the type of scene or situation you are in, so having a way to deal with your anxiety in a private manner can make a huge difference. Hopefully, are garment can do just that.

WHAT IT DOES We built a garment that helps with many of these symptoms. Whether it be a full on attack or a quick increase in heart rate, we have a solution to help ease the struggle. Our garment was designed to relax the wearer in various ways, so they no longer have to deal with this burden. After researching anxiety, the causes and the ways to cope with it, we developed a garment that monitors heart rate, compresses pressure points, adds heat and has an overall soft touch. The heart rate monitor is sewn on the inside of the sleeve in a pocket, monitoring the pulse in your wrist. When the heart rate reaches 10 beats per minute over the average heart rate of 60-100 bpm for more than thirty seconds, then this will trigger the rest of the technology in the garment. We allowed for an extended period of time due to everyday activities that may increase your heart rate quickly but may not be the cause of anxiety. The heart monitor sets off the Servo, a rotating device, that will be attached to an elastic band on the inside of the sleeve. One end of the elastic band is sewn into the seem and the other will be connected with the Servo. When the Servo begins to rotate, it will allow the band to start tightening around the wrist compressing the pressure point. This elastic band will be around your wrist, enacting that pressure point to relieve that stress and allow for a calmer exterior. Along with the Pulsesensor (heart rate monitor), there is an LED light mimicking a heart rate to allow for visual representation (just for the demonstration). The LED light will slow down and speed up gradually as it demonstrates what the garment would do if it was triggered by an increasing heart rate. We also added heating pads that will warm and provide heat to the shoulders when the heart rate increases. The heating pads are in the shoulders helping with any muscle tension in that area. The last contributing factor to are garment is the fabric itself. We used softer knit and woven materials that fit closer to the body for the sense of a soft touch which is another mechanism to help soothe anxiety. We also did this for the purpose of creating an undergarment that can be worn beneath your clothes so it is not as noticeable.

HOW WE BUILT IT In our garment we have included a Standard Servo, a Heating Pad, an Arduino UNO, and a Power Relay, a Pulse sensor and LED lights. Starting at the bottom of the sleeve, we have an elastic band that is attached to the Servo located three fingers away from the pulse and a pulse sensor that is on top of the wrist monitoring the pulse. When the Servo begins to rotate, it will cause the band to tighten around the arm where the pressure point is. Going up the sleeve we have a switch and “the brain” which is the Arduino UNO. Every device/technology is attached to the Arduino, allowing the devices to generate their proposed purpose. Next to the Arduino is the Power Relay which triggers the heating pads in the shoulder. Those are also connected to the Arduino allowing it to function. For the purpose of the hackathon, and due to the limited resources, we are only incorporating the technology into one sleeve/side of the garment. The rest of the garment is sewn. This includes pockets on the inside of the sleeve and shoulders to act as compartments for each of the devices. We have also incorporated an LED light to act as a visual pulse on the upper sleeve. The LED is connected to the Arduino, programmed to blink at a normal heart rate (60-100) for 875 milliseconds and an increased heart rate (above 110 bpm) starting at 475 milliseconds and then increase by 4 milliseconds for 100 iterations, end up back at 875 milliseconds.. The next component is in the upper part of the garment at the shoulder area and this just includes the heating pad. Again, this will have its own separate compartment on the inside of the garment. Overall, the technology that is incorporated in this garment is all connected to the Arduino UNO for each component to be activated.

CHALLENGES The first challenge we faced was coming up with the idea itself. It is a lot harder to come up with a tech savvy idea that can actually be produced with the resources we have. But, all is well! After coming up with our idea though, it was difficult to figure out the components we needed to develop our idea. We faced major problems when some of our components did not work like our pulsesensor and heating pad. Although we are still going to incorporate these components, we added an LED light to mimic the pulse of a heartbeat so an observer will understand when the garment is meant to be activated. Our idea came together piece by piece, and though we had to work around a few bumps in the road, we were still able to develop our idea fully.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS WE ARE PROUD OF We are proud of the fact we were able to complete this project altogether. Each of us had very different skill sets, working out for the better. Building a mechanism that would help relieve stress and work coherently was a daunting task, but we were able to manage it. Figuring out how to work the Arduino with the rest of the components was challenging, along with learning to program it. Slowly, but surely we were able to program a way to be successful in portraying our idea.

WHAT WE LEARNED The major thing we learned was how to sew tech into technology. For most of us, it was something we have never done before. A new thing we also tackled was the pulse sensor. Learning how to activate it and incorporate it with the other components

WHAT’S NEXT? First, we would like to incorporate technology that is discreetly apart of the clothing so it is not as noticeable for the wearer and the observer. We would also like to include technology that works more proficiently in the garment. As well, we would like to add these components onto both sleeves/sides of the garment. In the future, having this idea progress into multiple body and mind health garments would be amazing. Different colors and technologies could be incorporated to develop various ways to tackle health problems that can really help the wearer live their everyday life to the fullest. Ultimately it would be incredible to get our ideas out into the world and focus on better integrating the technology that is out there!

Built With

• aaa-batteries
• and
• arduino-uno
• board
• circuit
• cut
• fabrication
• heating-pad
• led-light-software-used:-arduino-uno-development-framework:-arduino-uno-libraries-used:-servo-library-materials-used:-neo-prime
• methods:
• polyester/-spandex-blend-fabrics
• power-relay
• pulsesensor
• servo
• sew/
• sewing
• standard-servo
• wires