For the input pillow: I’ve seen knitting input touch sensors in the project kunststof that Michelle made which is really interesting for this project to investigate because she also uses (textile)input sensor to control steppermotors wireless. So I will look into her documentation.

At Waag there are students that follow the fabricademy course and I think I can get more inspiration for the pillow looking in to their research. I would like to experiment with different techniques of making the sensors. I did this and you can find my experiments on the final project process page here

Existing things

I found this design lamp called ripple from the POETIC LAB they made a glass bulb with ripples to create moving light structures that resemble light reflecting on water. The video looks really pretty. However this light is not using an input like a pillow this is what I would like to add to make it interactive. Also it not a make movement product, it’s a designer product and an expensive light. And I would also add a kinetic aspect to the light making it less a product and more a sculpture. But the idea of this lamp is very similar to what I have in mind. Picture: POETIC LAB , Ripple lamp

On the other hand of the spectrum I found these very cheap disco and galaxy lights that work similar to my idea with the the light and a transparent object that reflect the light on the ceiling. But this is not the type of look, patterns and light I want for my project. I want to make a more artistic project and again use the input of the pillow to it will become interactive

Project breakdown

Underneath you can find the system diagram and the processes and materials that will be used to make the dream light final project.

making vs buying

What parts and systems will be made?

• input pillow
• kinetic nightlight base
• holder for steppermotor
• PCB for neopixels
• PCB for stepper motor
• PCB for step response sensor

What parts will you buy?

• battery charger module
• universal couplers
• 2 pulleys to drive the stepper motor
• stepper motor
• zipper

Materials

Below you can find a detailed BOM: (Bill of material) to answer the following questions about the final project:

• What materials and components will be used?
• Where will come from?
• How much will they cost?

Learning process

While working on the final project I formulated the following questions I need to answer to be able to finish this project.

1. How to make a soft input pillow using step response to actuate the nightlight. From mapping sensor data to programming the outputs for the light and motor.

2. How to design an anthony howe alike mechanism that reflects light in a pattern.

3. How to establish a reliable wireless connection

4. How to design the power supply’s. The pillow with a chargeable battery and the nightlight with one plug for 5V and 12V devices.

5. How to make the system integration so all the electronics are nicely hidden in the project designed with buttons to activate

So what questions were answered? Looking back on this process I can happily say all these questions have got answers. The one better that the other one, but I worked on all of them. And while typing this I can say I’m proud of this because half a year ago specially the electronic related questing I would have not known where to start.

How will it be evaluated?

I decides my project will be evaluated based on the questions that needs to be answered. If I can answer these questions during the development of this final project by demonstrating how I did it It can be evaluated successfully. On the final project process page you can read in details about all the things I tried the design process, machines, photo’s and so on of the making process. You will also find the design files there to make the project yourself. Below I will make an attempt to sum-up the answers of my questions.

1. How to make a soft input pillow using step response to actuate the nightlight. From mapping sensor data to programming the outputs for the light and motor.

• Sewing the pillow was not new for me but working with coper fabric, incorporating electronics and making touch sensors was. I tried out many different ways of making my own sensors with pressure and capacitive techniques based on work of others as inspiration. In the process I wanted to make a sliding and squeezing sensor in one and lost my way a bit there. I run into lost of troubles with interference when going from 1 to 2 sensors. Shielding the sensors and measuring the distance between both fixed the interference problems and made it an squeezing pillow. The sensors now don’t respond to the capacitive load when you bring your hand close to it. However the shielded squeeze sensor is making it much more reliable.

2. How to design an Anthony Howe alike mechanism that reflects light in a pattern.

• I started this process looking into 3D printing the gears to make the mechanism. During output devices week I wanted to make something I could start testing with right away with the stepper motor. The universal couplers where the answer to make a quick test set-up. I’m glad I did this because it gave me time to fix all other problems with the degrees of freedom stability and torc what would have come anyway. I kept working on the size, the shafts to drive the belt and the acrylic shapes. The challenge was to make everything fit and to make it turn smooth. While working on the kinetic mechanism I learned to work on the lathe.

• In the spirit of making instead of buying I think it still would be really cool to experiment with gears or with flexures for the corners so the mechanism can turn. But time management kept me from going into this.

3. How to establish a reliable wireless connection

• This question got me a bit worried when I started working on it during networking and communication week. I couldn’t make much sense of the BLE connection and needed lots of help. During the interfaces week I finally got more grip on the topic and with help I made a reliable connection. Two people informed my about ESP-NOW and since I’m working with two ESP’s I wanted to give it a try. With the knowledge I gained about sending data types and the more readable sample code I was able to make a connection for both the sensors myself.

4. How to design the power supply’s. The pillow with a chargeable battery and the nightlight with one plug for 5V and 12V devices.

• After designing my first PCB during designing electronics I start by looking into all the electronics I need for my project. I first tried working with the stepper driver with a breadboard but this was a nightmare. Working with the stepper driver was a challenge for me all through the week I started working with it till the last week. But I learned a lot from it. Debugging is going faster, I’m more aware of problems. I hade code not working (library’s interfering) broken motors, drivers and power supply, traces that cracked and made a fair amount of mistakes with wiring in KiCAD like the 3V to 3V mistake or missing a diode which made me over power the circuit once. Powering it from the 12V power supply and the 5V USB, resulting in a dead driver again. So yes, learned a lot and i’m happy looking back to it right now that I got the final project to work with the mapped speeds and micro stepping!

• That said, the stepper motor and the mechanism attached to it could still be more silent and smooth. A TMC stepper driver could fix one of these problems, but after the A4988 I stuck with the DRV8825 driver for now. For making it move more smooth I should look into something else than the universal couplers.

5. How to make the system integration so all the electronics are nicely hidden in the project designed with buttons to activate.

• This part actually when smooth. I only printed the base of the nightlight once, my tolerances were perfect. I hade some things I needed to fix cause these things developed while the project developed after printing. Like drilling holes for mounting the stepper or melting an insert. But I did not have to print it a second time and the electronics are nicely embedded. The transparent top makes it able to have a loot at all the self made PCB’s :D. I did put a lot of time in looking for a way to intergrade the electronics of the pillow and I really like the round shape on the side that I choose. I also learned about creating a wireless device that’s battery powered.

What questions remain? Looking back the most important questions that remain would be:

• How to make a stepper motor move slow and silent
• How to design a stable double step response sensor, since it’s still not perfectly mapping the values to the outputs

Managing Process

Spiral development

Must haves

• pillow with 2 touch sensors for dimming the light and the speed of the motor
• Input pillow and light object communicate wireless
• 3D printed base for the kinetic nightlight construction
• kinetic nightlight construction made of bearings, shafts, universal joins and pulleys
• Stepper motor for the movement, micro stepping for smooth movement
• acrylic lasercut design for the light bending pattern
• Rechargeable battery with charging module

Could haves

• Nice wooden milled base more compact design
• use of home made beveled gears ore flexures for the kinetic turning mechanism
• Different programmed movement patterns
• Silent moving motor

Time management

what tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain? What worked? What didn’t? Completed:

• moving mechanism driven by a stepper motor
• established a reliable wireless connection
• making the pillow with two step response sensors
• PCB for nightlight
• PCB for pillow
• integration of the nightlight
• finish integration of the pillow electronics
• coding the sensor data to be an output

Remain wishes:

• Creating a silent stepper motor and driver
• Creating a more smooth fading effect for the neopixels