Getting right part 2

Here is a video of my embroidered sensors, using Ali’s programming, circuit boards and muscles driving Alex’s robotic arm. 

Just so you know whats going on…..

Ali is holding a pair of embroidered sensors on his arm.  They are digital embroidery with conductive thread.  They pick up the electrical impulses of the muscle in Ali’s arm.  The conductive thread allows the signal to be transmitted to the robotic arm via a computer and so the robotic arm mirrors the movements of the human arm.

These are the embroidered sensors being held in place......its not very technical BUT it seems to be working.  I need to develop a way of putting the sensors on the skin with just the right amount of pressure.

We are now working to get even better results from even better sensors.

Getting it right

Those of you who follow my blog posts will know that the Parallel Practice residency at King's has been full of ups and downs.
I’ve moaned about how small I have had to work; I am used to working in metres and now I am working in millimetres.  My piece for Cloth and Memory 2 was featured in the December '14 issue of Embroidery magazine in a feature about monumental scale textiles, and I am currently finishing two quilts for the ‘Error in the bone’ project that are each 3msq.
Today I am emailing about whether the PCB is 17 or 20mm; just so you know, a penny is 20.3mm.  I am not complaining about this but using this as a stark illustration of the difference in the way of working for me.  The other challenge I have had is the technical one: that circuits aren’t right or contacts aren’t good enough; that threads have shorted or that work has been just ‘wrong’ and often I have struggled to find the ‘right’ way.
So here is a lovely positive image of getting it right.  The image on the little screen is a wave form of the electrical impulses (or EMG) of Ali’s bicep moving.  The sensors are embroidered; the band making contact is textile.  Result!