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Posts Tagged ‘Conductive’

Conductive Design: 10 Objects Transformed Into Touch Pads & Circuits

11 May

[ By SA Rogers in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Conductive paint, ink and thread can be drawn, woven or even tattooed into objects like denim jackets, carpeting and leather iPad cases to make them into electrical circuits, adding a new layer of functionality as well as cool-looking graphic patterns. Draw circuits in any shape, create smart objects that interact with apps, and answer your phone while biking by swiping your finger across your sleeve. These 10 projects – some of which are available commercially – show how far conductive designs have come in less than four years.

Conductive Wallpaper by UM Project

Instead of hiding wiring for lights away within walls, ‘Conduct’ by UM project and wallpaper company Flavor Paper lays it all out as part of the wall’s design using conductive inks to create decorative circuitry. The circuits control a lamp, fan, speaker, light box and hinged mirror, activated them when someone touches the copper dots, using their body to complete the electricity circuit.

Jacquard by Google: Conductive Levi’s Denim Jacket

Jacquard by Google teamed up with Levi’s to create a smart denim jacket made with woven conductive yarn, designed specifically for bike commuters. The aim is to seamlessly integrate technology into textiles, prioritizing the garment over the gadget and making it ultra-wearable. The threads connect to a smart tag on the sleeve that communicates with your mobile device, turning the jacket into a gesture-controlled canvas so you can get directions, adjust the volume on your music or answer a phone call using finger swipes on your sleeve. The Commuter will be available this fall for $ 350.

Circuit Scribe Conductive Ink Pen

The ’circuit scribe’ ballpoint pen allows you to draw circuits in any shape using a quick-dryings conducting ink, connecting them to a coin battery, paper clip and LED or more complex parts. While similar conductive pens have been offered before, this one differs by producing just the right amount of ink flow to achieve an ideal conductivity of 50-100 milliohms/square/mil. You can buy kits starting at just $ 10.

‘Electrick’ Conductive Paint Turns Anything Into a Touch Pad

This conductive paint from Future Interfaces Group (a research lab within the Human-Computer Interaction institute at Carnegie Mellon) turns virtually any surface into a touch pad when you add an electric current over the painted conductive surface using a pair of electrodes. When you touch the surface, the current is disrupted, and the ‘Electric’ program detects exactly where the object has been touched, showing it on a screen. The technology could potentially help engineers test prototypes of touch pad gadgets.

Conductive Knot Lamp by Celia Torvisco

Tie the threads dangling from this minimalist lamp together, and you’ll complete the circuit to turn it on. Designer Celia Torvisco, who’s also known for her conductive ceramic radio, envisions the flashlight for use while camping, riding a bike or reading a book.

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Conductive Design 10 Objects Transformed Into Touch Pads Circuits

Bio-Wearables: Tech Tattoos Put Working Circuits on Your Skin

Tech Tats use conductive inks to create a circuit board right on your skin, providing a passive and unobtrusive alternative to standard wearables. Smartwatches and fitness trackers tend to stand …

It’s Electric: 14 Fun and Interactive Conductive Designs

Electronic functions aren’t just limited to gadgets anymore – they can be extended to everyday objects, architectural surfaces, paper, clothing and even our own bodies. Conductive paint, thread …

Power Plants: Scientists Grow Conductive Wires in Living Roses

A group of Swedish scientists has developed a successful method for integrating conductive wire systems into plants, naturally soaked up from a gel into leaves and stems to create …

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[ By SA Rogers in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Power Plants: Scientists Grow Conductive Wires in Living Roses

23 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Drawing & Digital & Technology. ]

wired rose plant

A group of Swedish scientists has developed a successful method for integrating conductive wire systems into plants, naturally soaked up from a gel into leaves and stems to create complete circuits in bionic hybrids. The implications, like the currents, run in two directions: power can be harvested from plants, but the plans can also be changed through the application of external energy.

rose robot

Botanists and mechanical engineers from the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at Linköping University added the gel at the base of test plants, which in turn hardened into flexible wires within the stems and leaves, all without damage to the organic components. They were then able to send electrical impulses through the plants, lightening and darkening flowers and leaves.

rose hybrid bionic plant

“Although many attempts have been made to augment plant function with electroactive materials, [until now] plants’ ‘circuitry’ has never been directly merged with electronics,” write the researchers in their paper Electronic Plants. “With integrated and distributed electronics in plants, one can envisage a range of applications including precision recording and regulation of physiology, energy harvesting from photosynthesis, and alternatives to genetic modification for plant optimization.”

rose hacked

A number of material combinations were tried before the effective solution was discovered. Some hardened and harmed the plants while others proved toxic or provided insufficient connectivity to be effective. The transparent organic polymer they settled on is able to fully wire a living rose, creating a bionic hybrid without compromising its natural functions.

wired rose detail

More from the abstract: “The roots, stems, leaves, and vascular circuitry of higher plants are responsible for conveying the chemical signals that regulate growth and functions. From a certain perspective, these features are analogous to the contacts, interconnections, devices, and wires of discrete and integrated electronic circuits. The four key components of a circuit have been achieved using the xylem, leaves, veins, and signals of the plant as the template and integral part of the circuit elements and functions.”

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Natural Lighting: Grow Your Own Glow-in-the-Dark Plants

Imagine the possibilities: cities illuminated at night not with carbon dioxide-producing energy sources, but with real glow-in-the-dark trees that light up …
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Harvest Energy from Power Lines to Recharge Your Batteries

A small hand-held ‘parasite’ gadget harvests wasted electromagnetic fields from cell phones, home appliances and power lines to charge a battery.
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Course Correction: Deserted Golf Greens into Solar Power Plants

Derelict putting greens will be put to greener uses in Japan, where an abandoned golf course near Kyoto is being converted to the area’s largest solar …
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It’s Electric: 14 Fun and Interactive Conductive Designs

25 Nov

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Conductive Design Main

Electronic functions aren’t just limited to gadgets anymore – they can be extended to everyday objects, architectural surfaces, paper, clothing and even our own bodies. Conductive paint, thread and wires are used in conjunction with little processors like the Arduino Lilypad to turn bananas into musical instruments or a pair of metallic false eyelashes into a controller for an LED headset.

Gilded Ceramic Radio Controlled by Gesture

Conductive Designs Ceramic Radio

The metallic patterns on what looks like no more than a ceramic vase aren’t merely ornamental. In fact, they’re how you control the volume, frequency and on/off functions of this object, which is actually a radio. Made using fine palladium paint that has conductive properties, geometric patterns each have an individual motif for the function they control. The Hibou, as it’s called, is the result of an unusual collaboration between a gilder and an electronic specialist.

MusicInk: Turning Paper into Instruments

Conductive Designs MusicInk

Flat sheets of ordinary paper become functioning, noise-making instruments thanks to a prototype kit containing conductive carbon paint, stencils and an Arduino Duemilanove board. Individual painted areas on the paper turn into playable trumpets, guitars, drums and more (recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra) by turning them into capacitive sensors that react to gestures. The Arduino board is synched with a smartphone app via Bluetooth.

Touch Board Turns Everyday Objects into Interactive Artifacts

Conductive Designs touchboard

Another touch board uses capacitive sensing  to turn any conductive material into an interface. The touch boards are pre-programmed to turn gestures into sound just by connecting them to a speaker and plugging in a micro USB cable. You effectively paint light switches, volume controls or musical instruments onto a surface with electrically conductive paint, and then use gestures to control them.

SmartWrap Interactive Building Film

Conductive Design SmartWrap

Now imagine taking that kind of interactive functionality and applying it to an entire building. That’s the idea behind SmartWrap interactive architectural film, which can be applied to a wall or the facade of a structure to provide not just shelter and climate control but also lighting, information display and power. It’s embedded with OLED technology, thin film batteries and silicon cells and conductive ink.

Conductive Body Paint Enables Novel Interaction with Environment

Conductive Designs Body Paint

A conductive ink applied directly to human skin can bridge the gap between electronics and the body. Bare Conductive’s body paint is a skin-safe, water-soluble carbon-based ink that can be brushed, stamped or sprayed on to allow users to interact with technology through gestures, creating ‘custom electronics.’ The makers list potential areas of use as dance performances, music, fashion, security, military, audio/visual communication and medical devices.

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Its Electric 14 Fun And Interactive Conductive Designs

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Dazzling Digital Ads: 12 Interactive Storefront Displays

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Touchy Instrument Turns Literal Beets Into Figurative Beats

The BeetBox from designer Scott Garner explores user expectations and creates a delightful visual pun. Its wooden enclosure holds six beet-making beats.
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[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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