Soft Circuitry with LilyPad Arduino

 

Lara Grant will be teaching a weekend intensive course at Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA) April 2nd and 3rd. This course will cover the basics of electricity, circuit building and the techniques and materials used to make soft circuits. Workshop participates with be given a short overview of soft circuitry in the context of wearables, art and technology and will be given project based instruction through the construction of soft circuits using conductive thread and fabrics. Students will build two circuits, one using a 555 timer IC and one using the LilyPad, while integrating soft switches and sensors into each. 

Not only will students walk away with circuits made in the workshop, but also a list of sources for materials and further online resources to further their education outside of the workshop.

 

Class Outline:

Day One:

Short history of wearables and an overlook of contemporary projects

Intro to electrical components and schematics

Intro to wearable conductive materials

 

Hands-on portion:

How to prototype a sound generating circuit on a breadboard

How to use a multimeter

Making of wearable switches and variable resistors

Integration of switches and resistors with breadboard circuit

 

Assignment: Download and install arduino software from arduino.cc

 

Day Two:

Intro to the LilyPad Arduino

Intro to available sensors and handmade options

Translating from the breadboard to a soft circuit

Overview of resources for materials and further education outside of the workshop

Hands-on portion:

Fabrication of musical textile

 

Lara is one half of the sister team Felted Signal Processing (FSP) that explores textile based musical controllers and has extensive experience creating interactive fashion, objects and performances with (and without) the use of technology through soft circuitry.

 

Afterwards there will be a Salon with fellow instructor Matt Ganucheau who will be teaching Arduino 101 the same weekend. Matt and Lara will be giving a brief presentation concerning their work in physical computing and wearable technology in an open format where students, alumni and faculty mix to discuss pertinent work.

 

Enroll in Soft Circuitry
Enroll in Arduino 101