VIGOR - a Fashiontech Artwork Representing the Symbiosis of Fashion and Technology

As part of a seminar paper in the subject of art in the upper grades of high school, I designed my own object under the theme of Fashiontech.

The Iranian American artist Behnaz Farahi inspired me in the further development of my idea and the design, especially at the beginning. She specializes in the field of additive manufacturing and interactive technologies. Inspired by her and her work, I began to develop my own work. It should also include the technology of 3D printing, creating own designs with Fusion 360 and be interactive with the wearer and their environment.

The result is my work "Vigor". The central theme of my artwork is the human heart. The human heart is the organ that is connected throughout our entire body, keeps all other organs alive, transports oxygen and thus forms the center of our body. But the heart is so much more than just its biological purpose. Of all our organs it has the highest symbolic impact in philosophy, literature and religion.

The title "Vigor" is derived from the Latin word and means vitality.

This post is structured in such a way that each headline indicates at the beginning which section the reader is in. The sections of the Instructable are:

1. HEART, everything about the development of the heart
2. VEST, the components and structure of the vest
3. ELECTRONICS, the explanation of the built-in electronics and its purpose
4. SOFTWARE, the program code for the functions of the work

And now see in the following which elements I used to merge fashion with technology.

All the tools and materials required for the realization of the work are listed below.

Tools:

1. 3D printer
2. Soldering iron
3. Sewing machine
4. Basic set of screwdrivers, cordless screwdriver
5. Hot glue gun

Materials:

1. Black t-shirt (for my work I chose size L)
2. Stocking fabric
3. Velcro strips
4. Filament black
5. Filament clear
6. 2x M3 x 15mm screws and nuts
7. 4x M2.5 x 30mm screws and nuts
8. 1x M6 nut
9. 1x 6mm hexagonal shaft
10. 1x bearing (outer and inner diameter: 16 x 5mm)
11. 4x M3 x 10mm screws and nuts
12. 3x magnets 3mm
13. 3x metall brackets
14. ~4m Silicone Hose (12mm inner diameter)
15. Superglue
16. Hot glue

Electronics:

1. ~4m Led-strip WS2812B (link)
2. 3x Led rings WS2812B (with increasing size to 50mm)
3. 1x Servo MG996R (continuous rotating)
4. 3x Arduino Nano (link)
5. 3x Step down Modul (link)
6. 1x Battery pack (3S / 11,1V)
7. 1x Pulse Sensor (MAX30102 Sensor)
8. 1x Digital potentiometer (example)
9. 1x battery plug (XT60 or XT90)
10. 1x OLED Display (link)
11. 1x Power switch (15 x 21mm)
12. 1x Voltage measure (link)
13. Cables (for wiring the electronics)

The world is currently characterized by its fast pace and technical progress. Especially when it comes to fashion, we should ask ourselves whether we have forgotten how to appreciate the significance of individual fashion pieces due to our wasteful, fast-paced lifestyle and the ability to buy fashion at the cheapest prices.

The "Fashiontech" art movement deals with this development in today's world. It represents a counter movement to this trend. Among other things, the art movement has set itself the task of attributing more importance to fashion again and presenting an alternative to classic fashion.

The aspect of technology plays a significant role here. The integration of technology in fashion creates new possibilities in terms of expression, as well as rethinking the idea of the benefits of fashion. A garment should represent more than its immediate purpose, protection from extreme temperatures or the expression of the wearer's personality.

The pictures shown are by the Dutch artists Anouk Wipprecht and Pauline van Dongen. I got to know these two artists through research on my work and the topic of Fashiontech. Both represent an exciting area under the theme Fashiontech in their own way.

Pictures: Pauline van Dongen, Phototrope | Anouk Wipprecht, Spider Dress 2.0

In order to recreate both the medical and the symbolic heart, there is a self-developed "heart" on the work I have created. An up and down movement imitates the beating of the heart. This movement is driven by a laterally mounted servo. Due to the additional horizontal mounting on the side, the height of the heart is minimized as much as possible. The wearer's pulse is measured by an additional sensor and projected onto the heart. You can read more about the sensor in step 10. In addition, 71 LEDs are arranged in a circle in the center of the heart. These use light animations to represent the flow of blood in the heart.

All these functions are packed in a round box. Finally, the entire object is covered with a flexible black fabric. It should be noted that the cover is slightly tight when extended and when closed.

The aim in realizing the pulse movement was to achieve a reliable, quiet and easily controllable movement. At the same time, the movement must not consume too much power, as the entire mode is only supplied with energy via a rechargeable battery pack.

I used a continuous rotating MG996R servo as the drive motor. These have a durable and quiet metal gearbox. They also have much more power than a smaller Mg90 servo. This is also modified so that the input voltage is connected directly to the motor voltage by removing the controller board. The speed of the integrated motor can then be controlled via the input voltage.

The upper part has a rim with a wavy edge. The lower part also has a wavy edge, but with teeth on the bottom of the edge. A toothed wheel engages in these teeth, allowing the lower part to be moved. There is a casing around the part. This serves to guide the upper and lower parts. There are also two recesses which fix the upper part in its upward movement. Turning the gearwheel on the servo drives the large gearwheel, which then is connected to the middle gearwheel and thus moves the lower part, which in turn causes the upper part to move up and down due to the shaft connecting both parts. The opening angle is around 25 mm.

3D printed components:

1. 1x assembly base
2. 1x base
3. 1x case
4. 1x lid
5. 1x lower part
6. 1x upper part
7. 1x large gear wheel
8. 1x medium gear wheel
9. 1x small gear wheel
10. 2x gear profile (1x original and 1x mirrored original)

Other components:

1. 1x Servo MG996R
2. 3x Led rings WS2812B (with increasing size to 50mm)
3. 1x Servo horn round
4. 2x M3 x 15mm screws and nuts
5. 1x 6mm hexagonal shaft
6. 1x M6 nut

Assembly:

Attach the small gear wheel to the motor using the servo horn. Mount the servo on the base using the two screws. The holes for the screws are not part of the original design and have to be manaually drilled. Then the M6 nut is glued in the corresponding cut-out in the case. Glue the case to the base. Place the middle gear wheel for driving the lower part inside and the large gear wheel underneath the case, into which the small gear wheel has to engage orthogonally. The hexagonal shaft is used to connect the large and middle gearwheel.

As these are mechanically relevant parts, it is important to ensure that they run smoothly. I recommend lubricating them with grease.

The LED rings are glued into the upper part using superglue and closed with the lid. Finally, place the lower part and upper part in the case. The cables are fed through the cut-outs in the upper part and case. Together with the servo cable, these are routed along the head cut-out to the rear spine element. Thereon glue the finished heart assembly on the assembly base.

In the final step the whole assembly gets covered with the black stocking fabric. Glue the two gear profiles around the small gear to avoid the black stocking fabric getting into the gear. When attaching the stocking fabric, make sure that it is slightly taut in every position.

The initial idea was to develop a type of vest that covers half of the upper body. The design of the vest is based on being able to adapt to every physical movement and so not to hinder the wearer. The vest is based on a black pullover to increase comfort.

To ensure this great freedom of movement, the vest consists of many parts that can be moved independently of each other. The structure is comparable to that of a chain mail, which consists of many interconnected metal rings. The armor component in my case is a hexagon measuring 6cm x 4.5cm.

The idea behind this is to combine many of these components into one surface, which then form the vest. This gives the vest a stable, protective effect. In this way, the military purpose of protection is taken up, but through a new materiality and appearance it becomes fashion, freed from any purpose.

3D printed components:

As can be seen on the final work, some elements are different in size and cut, these are special elements that are adapted to certain places, such as the neck cut-out. These have also been given a different embossing, which in turn once again breaks the otherwise uniform image of the vest. All the elements listed were used in the original work. The following is a brief explanation of the individual elements:

We have the base element, as the name states, the main element used in the work.

The neck elements are placed around the neck. These are designed symmetrically, so simply mirror the two edge elements in the slicer to obtain all the required five elements.

The files with the name "ribs" are placed on the sides of the vest to round off the otherwise sharp corners and edges.

And last there are the shouler elements. The "element shoulder" is used similar to the "element ribs" underneath the shoulder element as a rounding of the upper right side.

The "shoulder holder" and "shoulder holder ring" are essential to hold the shoulder in place. The ring fits around the bearing and then is imbedded in the "shoulder holder".

Other components:

1. 1x bearing (outer and inner diameter: 16 x 5mm)
2. Velcro strips

Assembly:

The elements are attached using Velcro strips sewn onto the pullover. The complementary Velcro side is attached to the plastic elements with superglue.

To assemble the "shoulder holder", place the ring around the bearing and set it underneath the "shoulder holder" when attaching it on the vest.

The spine element is attached to the center of the upper back using Velcro strips. The entire technology of the work is housed there. The element consists of a main part and a removable lid.

An LED strip embedded in the center of the lid adds a touch of color to the otherwise plain black background. This is glued into the bulge in the lid and visually closed with the corresponding transparent element. The cover is connected to the housing via magnets, which allows easy access to the electronics.

In the main part the on/off switch for the entire work is located, as well as a 1.3-inch OLED display for showing relevant monitoring data such as the heart rate of the wearer. These two elements are inserted at the lower end of the main body.

The cables for the heart, pulse sensor and battery are fed through the hole at the top. This hole has to be manually added and is not part of the original design. I painted all the visible cables black so as not to spoil the overall look.

Starting from this element on the left side, the "veins" and "arteries" run forward over the left shoulder to the heart.

3D printed components:

Every component listed below has to be printed once.

Other components:

1. 3x magnets
2. 4x M3 x 10 mm screws and nuts
3. 3x metall brackets
4. 1x Led strip
5. 1x OLED Display
6. 1x Power switch (15 x 21mm)
7. 1x Voltage measure

Assembly:

To assemble the spine element connect the the top and bottom part to the base element using the corresponding screws and nuts. Thereon glue the shoulder part on the right side and four hose adapters on the left side of the assembly (Files and explanation for the hoses follow in the next step). At last insert the three magnets in the spine element.

Assemble the lid by inserting a part of the Led strip in the cut-out and close it up with the clear part of the lid. At last glue the metall brackets in the cut- outs on the bottom.

The housing is now fully assembled. Finally, the first electronics are integrated. To do this, simply place the Display, the switch and the Voltage measure in the corresponding places.

The "veins" and "arteries" run from the spine element over the left shoulder to the front of the heart. These are represented by dark tubes with a translucent coloration. The integrated LED strips are visible when switched off but are barely visible due to the black coloring and blend seamlessly into the overall picture. There are five specially designed adapters around the heart. The same adapters are also attached to the side of the spine element. The cables of the LED strips can be fed through the holes in the spine element. One tube is connected to one element at the front and one at the back.

In addition to these four tubes, an identical one is attached underneath the heart. In this case, both adapter pieces are glued to an armor element and the cables guided through a drilled hole.

The flow of blood from and to the heart in the five tubes is simulated using self-designed light animations, controlled by one Arduino Nano placed in the spine element.

3D printed components:

1. 8x hose adapter
2. 2x hose adapter 90

Other components:

1. ~4m Silicone Hose (12mm inner diameter)
2. ~4m Led-strip WS2812B

Assembly:

The "hose adapter" is used to attach the hoses to the spine element and on the front side of the vest. Use the "hose adapter 90" to attach the fifth tube underneath the heart.

The individual lengths of the hoses and LED strips can be freely selected according to personal preferences, therefore this is only an approximate specification based on own experience. Due to the design, it is possible to attach the hose without any adhesive. Cable ties can be used for extra hold.

There is an element over the right shoulder, similar to the shoulder pads that were popular in the 1980s. This rests on the shoulders and is attached to the front of the work and the spine element using two holders. The two holders can be rotated on two axes in order to move flexibly with the wearer's body movements. The brackets are attached on each side using two M2.5 screws. A diamond pattern is embossed in both holders, which breaks up the otherwise smooth surface of the armor elements and adds a sense of lightness.

The shoulder section also contains the battery that powers the entire fashion item. The holder for the battery is printed separately and must be glued to the shoulder element. When connecting the battery, make sure that the cables are long enough so that the battery can still be removed.

The bulge in the center of the element is covered with a transparent lid.

3D printed components:

Print everything once, except the "wing element". This element is needed two times. The original for one side and a mirrored one for the other side.

Other components:

4x M2.5 x 30mm screws and nuts

Assembly:

Glue the battery compartment to the bottom of the base element. After that connect the two wing elements using the four M2.5 screws and nuts. Insert an Led strip in the top and close it up with the clear lid.

The "Adapter back 1" and "Adapter back 2" are set together by inserting a short piece of filament threw both elements. In the final step the adapter for the back and front are glued to the shoulder element and connected to the spine element and "shoulder holder" on the front vest side (see step 5).

A battery is integrated into the right shoulder to ensure that the entire outfit functions independently of any power supply. This is reassembled to meet the dimensional requirements and connected to the object via a plug so that it can be easily removed for charging. The individual cells of the battery are lined up next to each other instead of on top of each other as in the original. Thanks to the low height, the battery can then be elegantly hidden in the shoulder element.

However, the battery voltage is too high to be applied directly to the LED strips. Therefore step-down modules are used to reduce the voltage. It should be noted that one of these modules can only be loaded with a maximum current of one ampere. Due to the size of the LEDs installed and the other consumers, one module is not sufficient. To counteract this, two modules are connected in parallel.

The speed of the heart is based on the wearer's pulse. A MAX30102 sensor is installed to realise this. This can measure both the pulse and the oxygen content of the blood. It is positioned on a finger using an attached Velcro strap. Initial attempts to measure the pulse rate via the wrist, as is the case with modern smartwatches, failed due to the module's performance. A short cable leads to a plug on the right sleeve, where simple short pin and socket strip is used as a connector. The cable runs inside the sleeve until it is routed together with the cables from the heart via the cut-out from the head to the spine element.

The measured pulse is then recorded and processed by an Arduino Nano.

Basically, the whole system is controlled by three microcontrollers. The controllers used are Arduino Nanos.

One controller is used to control the heart. This includes recording the heart rate via the sensor described in step 10 and projecting it onto the heart.

The projection of the heart rate is implemented by regulating the speed of the heart. To make this possible, the voltage at the servo is regulated up or down via a further step-down module. To control the module a digital potentiometer is used. In order to understand what this chip does, it is first necessary to understand how the manual voltage adjustment works. There is a screw on each voltage reducer that can be used to regulate the output voltage. This controls an adjustable resistance. The output voltage is adjusted according to the resistance. The digital potentiometer has a large number of small resistors. Via a serial interface, a microcontroller can “tell” the chip how large the resistance of the chip should be. The voltage can then be controlled digitally according to the resistance communicated.

Depending on the chip you have selected, you can read in the data sheet how to connect it to the Arduino and the step-down module. Adafruit provides a good explanation of how such a chip works and how to connect it to a microcontroller and program it:

Overview | Adafruit DS3502 I2C Digital Potentiometer | Adafruit Learning System

The other two microcontrollers control the light animations in all the tubes, the spine element and the heart. One is used to animate the lights in all tubes, the other on controls the spine element and heart animation.

The separation of all functionalities to three different microcontrollers was necessary to allow the different processes to run in parallel.

The development of the work took almost a year from the first sketches to completion. At the time, I hadn't planned to share this object on Instructable, so I only focused on the artistic aspects when documenting the work for the seminar.

Fortunately, the wiring is very simple apart from the speed control of the heart. Here are a few general tips on what to look out for:

1. All LED strips must be connected to a PWM-capable pin.
2. The LED strips 5V operating voltage must come directly from the step-down module.
3. The LED strips must be connected to two Arduinos as described above. The servo including speed control, the pulse sensor and the display must be connected to the second Arduino, otherwise their functions will not work in parallel.

You can also use the pins specified in the software (next step) as a guide to the pinout.

The software is the element that brings the object to life and controls its external appearance. The three programs are presented below.

Nano_lighting:

It controls all lights, except the LEDs in the heart and the spine element. These are controlled by another Arduino Nano running the Nano_lighting_2 software (see below).

At the beginnig the parameters of the LED strips have to be specified. The first two details set the number of LEDs on the corresponding LED strip and the pin the signal cable is connected to. Listed below ist the relevant part in the code.

To have all LED strips listed in one place, every strip of the work is listed in this code. Only necessary are the variables starting with "Schlauch" (Hose in German).

As long as these are adressed correctly, there is nothing more to adjust the code

Nano_lighting_2:

This code explicitly adresses the lights in the heart ("Herz") and spine element ("Rueckenteil"). The second variable "Schulterteil" (shoulder element) was an idea to have another led strip in the shoulder element, which in the end was not implemented therefore not explained in any previous step.

Adjust the first and third variables according to the previous code.

Nano_heart:

At last follows the software controlling everything connected to the heart.

Relevant variables are:

1. StepDown_cs, the pin for the digital potentiometer
2. Herz_Switch, in case a switch is installed to manually disable the heart movement. For debugging purposes one is installed in my work, but not necessary if you always want to have the heart runnning or just disable/enable it via the software.
3. Herz_Signal, the pin the heart rate sensor is connected to
4. Herz_Relay, controlling the power source to the heart (controlled by the switch)
5. servo.attach("pin"), to set the pin, the servo is connected to

Adjust these variables according to the connections in your project.

This project is one of the most challenging and exciting I have ever realised. It was the first time I got involved with the creation of gears and more complex designs in Fusion 360 and the big topic of Fashiontech. Through this work, I learnt to love this direction, got to know great artists and therefore firmly decided to design more in this direction in the future.