Monday
On Monday, I finished my medication box from Week 5. I added fabric to cover the circuit and put a flower on the fabric. I also started on my next iteration of the box. I decided to laser cut conductive fabric and make longer strips so that the sizes would be uniform and it would fit in a sewing machine. I solder snaps to a flora and sewed the corresponding snaps with conductive thread into the laser cut fabric base. Mina and I met with Ben to get feedback on our paper so far. We are adding a background section about the observations and survey done previously but the current draft discussed the highlighted the methodology rather than the importance of the work. We are considering publishing the paper at CHI or Ubicomp. After our meeting I worked a bit on a guide for the toolkit. I wanted to write a set by set process so a user would be able to understand all of the parts in the toolkit and be able to code with Arduino. I also finished editing my website.

Flora with laser cut conductive fabric strips and snaps

Tuesday
On Tuesday, I focused on editing and rewriting some sections of the paper. We are had some spelling mistakes in the introduction and wanted to work on the flow in the related works. Additionally, we are adding more detail to the results and discussion now that we have finished more prototyping. I also worked a bit more on the guide, I’m detailing the items in the toolkit and how to connect them in a circuit. Additionally I laser cut more conductive fabric and laser cut more fabric bases for the LEDs and light sensors. 

Wednesday
On Wednesday, Mina and I worked through our peer review feedback and made our reviewer response table. I also read through one of my peer’s papers and wrote down a summary and some constructive feedback for future edits. In the afternoon we had a workshop on presenting research in presentations and posters. We are preparing “Minute Talks” to give at the ProHealth Tea next Friday. Additionally, we will prepare drafts of our posters for the end of the summer to be reviewed by our mentors next Friday. After the workshop I went down to the prototyping lab to work more on my fabric bases and to laser cut my third box.

Thursday
On Thursday I worked on creating a hard base for the LilyPad Arduino. I ideally would like all of the components to have two different bases, fabric and cardboard/wood. The components could then snap into either base and be used in different mediums. The fabric bases have conductive fabric and can be ironed into other fabrics and used in a sewing machine. The cardboard bases have magnets and are connected to other components with wires that have metal jewelry clasps at each end. The magnets were very strong but I was able to keep them in place in the laser cut cardboard base. I put a little dab of hot glue on the underside to keep them from slipping out. I used a bit of conductive thread to tie down the LilyPad Arduino and to electrically connect the LilyPad to the magnets. I tested the conductivity later and it seemed to work pretty well!

Friday
On Friday I went to the ProHealth lab meeting in the morning. We heard a pitch from Tom about current research on discordant chronic comorbidities so we could give him some feedback.  Mina, Ben, and I went to lunch with Dr. Siek and talked about some of our ongoing work. After lunch Ben, Mina, and I attended a Fabric Origami workshop lead by another researcher. It was interesting to see some of the other Maker ideas floating around IU’s campus and take part in a workshop. 

Fabric Origami

Song of the Week