Full Fabric Soft Switches

soft_switch

When we created our backpack strap WiFi detector for Engadget, we embedded soft switches to control the device. They used two sheets of aluminum foil separated by a layer of foam with holes punched in it. [Plusea] has taken a similar approach but has replaced the aluminum foil with conductive fabric. The end result is a set of three soft buttons that can be easily washed. Have a look at the video of it in action below. Check out the followup project that uses the buttons to replace a scroll wheel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3gCwpRhlxQ]

7 thoughts on “Full Fabric Soft Switches

  1. I like it.

    I’ve been pondering for a while how to make wearable buttons that I can attach (perhaps like a badge?) to my coat so I can control my iRiver mp3 player easily when out cycling in the cold with gloves on.
    This is a good step towards that solution.

  2. It seems like it would be possible, if nontrivial, to set up a capacitive touchpad using a similar technique and one of those capacitive-sensor-controller chips from Analog Devices. This would probably be fairly useful for [dokumentamarble]’s application, and certainly for [furry]’s. :) Anyone working on that?

  3. i wounder if you can use these bottons for the keyboard pants and just build the keyboard instead of just buying one and seperating it. yeah it would be more work but seems better.. more durable…

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