Wearable Hacks

796 Articles

The CarolinaCon 16 Badge Slithers Into Life

February 19, 2020 by 2 Comments

It’s something of an unwritten rule at this point that you can’t hold a hacking conference without providing a badge with at least a few LEDs on it. Not only can they be a great way to learn electronics for the attendees that tinker with them, but they’re a keepsake to commemorate the event. As a perfect example, [Matt Agius] recently wrote in to tell us about the badge he’s made for the upcoming CarolinaCon 16.

As [Matt] explains, the idea with this badge was to make it as easy as possible for attendees to assemble. In the final version there are only going to be three components that need to be soldered, so even if they’ve never touched SMD components before, they should still be able to get their badge lit up.

The badge largely makes up for its simplistic electronics with some fantastic board art on the flip side. The two red LEDs illuminate the eyes of a rather sinister looking octopus that’s ensnaring the unsuspecting state of North Carolina in its tentacled grip. The art was originally done by [Katie Dorn], with [Matt] spearheading its conversion into something that could be sent out for PCB fabrication.

Anyone looking to add this latest entry to their growing collection of badges will need to attend CarolinaCon on April 10th and 11th, where you’ll be able to catch a talk [Matt] is giving on the subject called “How to design Printed Circuit Boards for Hacking and for Art”.

MQTT And The Internet Of Conference Badges

February 18, 2020 by 6 Comments

Today, nearly every modern consumer device wants to connect to the Internet for some reason. From your garage door opener to each individual smart bulb, the Internet of Things has arrived in full force. But the same can’t be said for most of our beloved conference badges. Wanting to explore the concept a bit, [Ayan Pahwa] set out to create his own MQTT-connected badge that he’s calling CloudBadge.

As this was more of a software experiment, all of the hardware is off-the-shelf. The badge itself is an Adafruit PyBadge, which doesn’t normally have any networking capabilities, but does feature a Feather-compatible header on the back. To that [Ayan] added a AirLift FeatherWing which allows him to use the ESP32 as a co-processor. He also added a strip of NeoPixel LEDs to the lanyard, though those could certainly be left off if you’re not looking to call quite so much attention to yourself.

The rest was just a matter of software. [Ayan] came up with some code that uses the combined hardware of the PyPadge and ESP32 to connect to Adafruit.io via MQTT. Once connected, the user is able to change the name that displays on the screen and the colors of the RGB LEDs through the cloud service. If you used something like this for an actual conference badge, the concept could easily be expanded to do things like flashing the badge’s LEDs when a talk the wearer wanted to see is about to start.

The modern conference badge has come a long way from simple blinking LEDs, offering challenges that you’ll likely still be working on long after the event wraps up. Concerns over security and the challenge of maintaining the necessary infrastructure during the event usually means they don’t include networking features, but projects like CloudBadge show the idea certainly has merit.

Continue reading “MQTT And The Internet Of Conference Badges” →

Werewolf Ears With A Sense For Danger

February 12, 2020 by 8 Comments

When walking down a dark street, it’s common to get a sense that one is being followed. It pays to check, of course, but what if we could get better data than simply a vague feeling from the unknown? [caitlinsdad] built a project that can do just that, with a cute pair of ears to boot.

The werewolf ears claim to be ISO Standard, though we’re yet to see the relevant documents to bear that out. Regardless, they use an Adafruit Gemma M0 microcontroller to run the show, hooked up to an infrared proximity sensor to detect movement. When triggered, the Gemma responds to the signal by twitching the wolf ears attached to a headband, alerting the wearer that someone is closing in.

Built and calibrated properly, this could be a useful invention for those who regularly find themselves followed by those skulking on the sidewalk and for whom moving to another neighbourhood is a more expensive option. We’ve seen other responsive wearables, too. Video after the break.

Continue reading “Werewolf Ears With A Sense For Danger” →

Stylish Outfit Packs A Solar Charging Rig

February 7, 2020 by 6 Comments

Being out and about with your devices rapidly running out of battery power can rapidly turn into a sticky situation. Suddenly you find yourself unable to hail rideshares and incapable of transferring money around. For the fashion conscious who wish to avoid this, [Kitty Yeung]’s design may be a valuable addition to their summer closet.

The project starts with [Kitty] sewing an elegant bodice and shorts out of a silky silver material. This fabric tends to fray when cut, so fabric glue and iron-on tape was used to protect the edges. This also makes sure the garment doesn’t fall to pieces when washed or worn often. Ribbons, pockets, and other features were designed into the garments to integrate them with hardware to enable the garments to act as a portable charging solution. 3D-printed brackets are affixed to the shoulders, holding a solar panel in an upward-facing angle to catch a good amount of sun. The panel chosen integrates circuitry to output a nice, clean 5V output for charging devices over USB.

It’s a fashionable outfit that also packs useful hardware, and we agree with [Kitty] that it really would be perfect for Burning Man. The cone hat was a nice touch, too. It’s not the first time we’ve heard from [Kitty] either – she appeared as a speaker at 2018’s Hackaday Superconference, too!

Pavlok Gets A Literally Shocking Teardown

February 2, 2020 by 36 Comments

Apparently, there is a wrist-mounted device that delivers electric shocks to the wearer when it receives the appropriate command over Bluetooth. No, it’s not part of some kind of house arrest program. If you can believe it, the gadget is actually intended to help break bad habits or wake up exceptionally deep sleepers. We don’t know which of those problems [Becky Stern] has, but we’re glad to see she decided to take hers apart before the 21st century self-flagellation started.

Called the Pavlok and available for $180 USD from various online retailers, the device looks like a chunky fitness tracker. But in place of the screen that would show you how many steps you’ve taken or your current heart rate, there’s a lighting bolt button that you can press when you want to shock yourself. With the smartphone application, you can control the device remotely with a handy desktop widget that allows you to select the intensity of the shock. No, we aren’t making any of this up. Check out the video after the break to see it in action.

When [Becky] tried to take the Pavlok apart, she found that it was nearly impossible to handle it without inadvertently triggering a shock. So until she could get the case open and physically disconnect the battery, all she could do was turn the intensity down in the application and work through the occasional jolts from the device. We can only hope that more devices don’t adopt a similar sense of self-preservation.

Once inside she found mainly the same kind of hardware you’d expect in a standard, non-masochistic, fitness wearable. There’s a nRF52832 Bluetooth SoC, a MMA8451Q accelerometer, a PCF85063A I2C RTC, and a FXAS21002C gyroscope. What you’re somewhat less likely to find inside your FitBit however is the LPR6235 coupled inductor and beefy capacitors which are used to build up a high-voltage charge from the standard 3.7 V LiPo battery.

We’ve been very interested in the recent projects which are creating custom firmwares for commercially available fitness wearables, as it could be an express route to a hacker-friendly smartwatch. While the Pavlok has some compelling hardware, and the programming header [Becky] identified looks interesting, we don’t like the idea of being one misplaced if statement away from riding the lightning.

Continue reading “Pavlok Gets A Literally Shocking Teardown” →

The Internet Of Football

January 31, 2020 by 37 Comments

While football in the United States means something totally different from what it means in the rest of the world, fans everywhere take it pretty seriously. This Sunday is the peak of U.S. football frenzy, the Super Bowl, and it is surprisingly high-tech. The NFL has invested in a lot of technology and today’s football stats are nothing like those of the last century thanks to some very modern devices.

It is kind of interesting since, at the core, the sport doesn’t really need a lot of high tech. A pigskin ball, some handkerchiefs, and a field marked off with some lime and a yardstick will suffice. However, we’ve seen a long arc of technology in scoreboards, cameras — like instant replay — and in the evolution of protective gear. But the last few years have seen the rise of data collection. It’s being driven by RFID tags in the player’s shoulder pads.

These aren’t the RFID chips in your credit card. These are long-range devices and in the right stadium, a computer can track not only the player’s position, but also his speed, acceleration, and a host of other statistics.

Continue reading “The Internet Of Football” →