A dress that responds aggressively when another person approaches too close is being showcased at this week's CES. The Intel Edison is the force behind this remarkable wearable design.

The Spider Dress and another called Synapse which detects the wearer's stress are the creations of designer and electronic wearables artist, Anouk Wipprecht. Both of these mechatronic dresses use the Intel Edison chip to respond to biosignals that trigger actions to defend the wearer’s personal space.

In the case of the Spider mechanical arms extend and retract as a response to external stimuli and as people approach, the wearer’s own breath will help to signal the defense posture of the robotic arms. The speed of the approach also modulates the defensive behavior. When someone approaches quickly and the arms will aggressively posture, but if they approach in a leisurely fashion the arms will be more welcoming.

Anouk explained the details of the Spider Dress 2.0 response electronics to Make:

“The Edison module runs embedded Linux, the design is programmed in Python. The dress interactions are defined in ’12 states of behavior’ through two Mini Maestro 12-channel USB servo controllers from Pololu and uses inverse kinematics. I am working with 20 small 939MG metal gear servos (0.14sec.60o / 0.13sec.60o – stall torque 2.5kg.cm/2.7kg.cm) all servos run back to the system. I am also working with Dynamixels (XL-320 series) of Robotis, which are super nice to work with as they are smart, strong and very accurate.”

Anouk's Synapse Dress uses lights to signal the wearer's feeling - ranging from flirtatious to full-on aggressions as she explains in this video:

Again it is the super-small, super-light Intel Edison that powers the Spider and it helps with keeping the design simple and generating complex behaviour. Having WiFi and Bluetooth included in the mix as standard makes it suitable for wearables as does the ability to run from a LiPo battery.

To quote Anouk:

"What does fashion lack?

Microcontrollers."

Anouk’s New Creation: Intel Edison Based Spider Dress 2.0

Intel IoT Developer Zone

Comments

Make a Comment or View Existing Comments Using Disqus

or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info