The Brain Stormer_Version1_ Brain Cloud

Sometimes finding your thoughts can seem like an impossible task. Right?

A challenge we as designers take seriously when in a job, a class, and not to mention a life where you find that a simple brain storming exercise turns into this vast exploration of space?!!!

Call it getting lost!

When was the last time you ever got stuck in your thoughts when brain storming for new ideas?

"La tete dans les nuages" the French say.

"Your head is in the clouds!", my teachers would repeat.

WiBi the Winky Brain has found a way to embrace the cloud he has been paying visits to. He took on some of the storm's characteristics such as lightning - is working on thunder - and redesigned himself to become a brainstorming session must have!

https://svapodmaking.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/wibi-the-winky-brain-sg/

What You Need... Have Some Fun... Be Silly... Very Silly!

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Electronic parts:

Adafruit MPR121 12-Key Capacitive Touch Sensor and 9V battery

Arduino Uno and breadholder mounted on arduino Holder

Regular breadboard mounted into arduino holder

Solid core wires in different colors

6 x 560 Ohm resistors

6 x LEDs ---------- Experiment with colors!

Plush Cloud:

Choose your fabric: I chose white felt

Conductive fabric

Cotton or stuffing fabric.

Experiment your light diffusions!

Tools:

Soldering iron & solder

Wire snippers/strippers

Box cutter/Multi-tool

Sewing tools/machine

Figure out your code and mount your circuit on your Arduino first

If you are not yet acquainted with coding - like me - experimenting, experimenting, experimenting is the best way to learn! You can find below a presentation from Adafruit that helped me understand MPR121 and of course the great resource that is Adarfuit:

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mpr121-12-key...

https://learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/adafruit...

Try to experiment how a storm would be and visualize it with LED lights in a cloud...

How would it look to you?

How

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I am using a regular breadboard and so to minimize risks of wires getting loose I would recommend you replace loose wires with stronger well fitted customized wires that you would cut and then insert and mount. Also it would help you when soldering!

Draw Your Brain/Cloud and This Is Where WiBi Will Wink Back at You!

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Solder Your LEDs and Resistors and Connect Them to Your Arduino Board As Shown Here:

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Depending on your cloud size think your wires size through

Once you figure out where each LED goes and where you want your push buttons ( conductive fabric ) to go, start sewing! Let' s make BrainClouds!

Finishing and Shaping

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Make holes inside the fabric to fuse your pins and Arduino boards with your LEDs and your conductive fabric...

Isolate your conductive fabric so they don't touch when you squoo000sh them...

Don't forget to mimic a semi brainy cloud!

Sewing your magical Brain Cloud is all you need to do and you are free to BrainStorm!