Last week I posted my idea for a final project, which was essentially a photo booth that scared you and took your picture. Just kidding, I’m not doing that anymore for a number of reasons. Most importantly, though, I just wasn’t that into that idea. So, that brings me to my new idea: a wearable fetal kick sensor that transmits real-time data to the web.
My beautifully pregnant life partner, Marina.
This weekend I took Kate Hartman’s “Textile Interfaces” class, and in preparing for it I had an idea for a wearable project for my pregnant wife, Marina. I want to image our baby’s kicks using wearable sensors for her belly. When I say image, I’m not talking about high resolution imaging or anything like that, but more of an abstract visualization that would show the baby’s movements along X and Y coordinates of a .p5js sketch. I also want the data from her wearable to be able to be transmitted wirelessly to a website that would run the P5 sketch. The ultimate iteration being that we could share a URL with friends and family where they could go and see the baby’s movement in real time (Isn’t that nice?). Also, tracking fetal kicks is an important part of monitoring the baby’s health, especially in the third trimester. So, this wearable has medical functionality as well.
I made a prototype during textiles using Eonyx conductive stretchy fabric and a neoprene band. The conductive fabric did generate data, but not the way I had hoped. It basically functioned as a stretch sensor, but any kicks or pushes on it wouldn’t generate any change in voltage. So that material is no longer in consideration for my sensor. Also, because I want to map the sensors to X and Y coordinates (and possibly Z), I probably need a matrix of sensors, possibly using a multiplexer (David Rios’s idea). Kobakant, a sort of soft circuit innovation lab, has a great website for exploring different kinds of wearable (generally nontraditional) sensor tutorials to draw from. Click here for their “How to Get What You Want” website. In all likelihood, my sensor will probably look something like this (click here).
My first prototype in Textiles (and opportunity to embarass myself).
I spoke with David this week about my project, and he seemed into it — more so than my original photo booth idea — and he signed off on it. He offered a lot of valuable guidance about sensor materials, and also helped me create a product schedule. My first milestone is making serial communication through WiFi or bluetooth work in order to make a reasonable prototype to show for the final. So, between now and next week I have to get an analog sensor to send data wirelessly to a computer. Wish me luck.
For the aesthetic of the visualization, Marina pointed out that the aesthetic I was trying to describe to her was definitely being influenced by a mobile video game I’ve been playing called “Tiny Bubbles.” The sound design is gentle, serene, meditative and calming. The colors are primary, but not too bold, playful, approachable. All of these are things I want to incorporate into my baby kick visualization.
Screenshot from “Tiny Bubbles.”
I’m really excited to work on this project. From a technical point of view, it will be both challenging and rewarding to accomplish, and I’m also just excited to share the end result with the people I love. I’m also excited to have an excuse to spend more time with my wife during all of this hectic grad school business.
I’m going to be informally collaborating with some other first years with similar themes or technical hurdles. Oliver Rose is making a project that will be employing soft sensors, so we intend to work together troubleshooting that and wireless serial communication, and also just keeping each other company while we work on our respective projects. Elizabeth Perez and Simone Salva are doing a project involving child-parent interactions, so I’m excited to have them as thinking buddies.
Stay tuned for wireless serial communication and prototyping weird sensors!