Clothing is a core part of our expression and offers ways for us to communicate who we are and the context in which we live. Technology enables a richer connection with people and our environment and offers a new platform for communication and expression. By merging the intimacy of clothing with the empowerment of technology, botlab garments strive to enhance our lives and offer a much richer language for self-expression.
As an outcome, rather than simply attaching technology to clothing, botlab investigates garments that have electronics built directly into them resulting in a new aesthetic of form and behavior that become a core part of our expression, our identity, and our individuality.
view my blog at electricfoxy.com ›
Race, jog, train, and play tag. Run is a training and gaming system that allows casual runners to detect and run with other runners without letting geography get in the way. The system includes an intelligent shoe, a web site, a cell phone application, and an infrastructure that includes a series of experiences for multiple niche markets within the sports and gaming communities. After designing the ecosystem, I built a working prototype of the shoe interface that interacted with a flash-based story. Together, they communicated the different aspects of the system and allowed you to test them out for each type of experience.
I’m an avidly dedicated pilates junky. I can never get enough of it. So, it makes sense that I’m currently working on a project that helps pilates-goers improve their technique and see faster results. In order to understand and design towards the athlete’s movements and needs, I have been working with an amazing pilates instructor at Pilates Powerhouse in Seattle to measure her movements and to identify the correct placement of all of the garment’s components. Stay tuned for an update on the progress…
This project is a music system that turns what teens love into a fun, community-based, and entertainment sport encouraging them to stay physically active. The system allows them to become their own dj, start and/or join a band, and create custom music tracks through the dance moves that they love. It includes a mobile device called the “Mobile Mash-Up Device” or “MoMu” and a web-based community that they can get involved with at any level and advance up to a full-blown performance.
Scenario 1: mixing (3.6mb) ›
Scenario 2: customizing and sharing (2.8mb) ›
Scenario 3: social syncing (2.3mb) ›
Additional concept info ›
I am constantly coming up with ideas for all sorts of wearables, whether it includes solutions that challenge the aesthetics of circuitry or solutions that enable gestures and interactions within the intended context of the garment. These are a few sketches that range from watercolor explorations to fast ideation. All of the sketches illustrate ideas for interactivity along with the garment design.
Finding enough power and sustaining it is one of the biggest challenges for wearable technology. In my never-ending quest to find alternative and more efficient power sources, I have been experimenting with a variety of solar panels that can be incorporated into textiles and wearables. My test circuits explore the properties of a variety of cells ranging from small bead-like 8mm cells to flexible and sewable panels. Due to a mountain of variables such as uncontrollable light sources, the cells either don’t generate enough current or they are insufficient with the voltage to be minimally invasive to the garment. In other words, they are still just too bulky. I have yet to find the optimal components.
I’ve been periodically running workshops that introduce people into the techniques of building soft-circuits. One workshop, sponsored by Frayedwire in Seattle, was a hands-on session focused on integrating electronics into fabrics and making soft switches out of snaps, hooks, zippers and other fashion-hardware. We made fashion accessory Palz, soft plush robots that lit up when they held hands. We turned a snap into a switch that turned an LED on and off. All of the circuitry was sewn directly into the fabric. Another workshop required you to weave the circuit into quilting fabric that was then stuffed inside an acrylic tube to complete Tipsylight, a light that turned on when you tipped it over.
View workshop pics for Palz ›
View workshop pics for Tipsylight ›