Gloves that capture your secrets

[gallery]Designer and maker, Meg Grant, has been exploring wearable technology and eTextiles. Her latest work Secret Keeper Gloves, extends human behavior and tendencies in a poetic, playful way through simple interaction triggered by natural gestures. The gloves capture your secret as you cup your hands over your mouth to whisper it. Here's how it works:

  • The batteries, microchip and speaker are all in the left hand. This means that the left hand has a fully-contained playback circuit.
  • In order to activate playback, press the thumb and the forefinger of the left hand together.
  • The only components in the right hand are the microphone and an indicator LED.
  • When the left and right palms are pressed together, the record circuit is connected at three points, two on the heel of the hand for power and ground and one on the side of the hand for input from the microphone.
  • Record is activated by pressing the left and right thumbs together.
  • The embroidery makes it possible for the wearer to use a variety of thumb positions for record and playback.

Via talk2myshirt More info at meggrant.com Images from meggrant.com

Experiments with wearable solar energy

[gallery] Wearable technology designer Meg Grant is experimenting with solar energy. Inspired by a "Kitchen Science" DIY project, she has been exploring how naked diodes can generate and capture energy. She will be testing the circuits with rechargeable batteries and how to optimize it in July. In the meantime, here are her initial findings so far:

  • it's very easy to snap the naked diodes in half where the white blob is, either while removing the casing or while preparing for sewing
  • you have to connect them in series to build up enough voltage (duh!)
  • not all black plastic diodes work, but most of the ones I used did
  • not all "naked diodes" are equal. I had to remove one from the beaded panel in order to maximise the current
  • if using salvaged diodes with short legs, solder a wire onto the leg before crushing the plastic

Continue reading on her project site. Photos from meggrant.com.