Woven Sensors and Simulation : Crafting Material Interfaces

GOAL

As part of my final project, and in working from the same warp as the Thermochromic Upholstery, I was interested in developing a series of textiles whose sensing capabilities are inherent in the construction of the material. In the final working sample, I used a construction called deflected double weave, which allows for areas of conductive warp and weft to ‘float’ over each other instead of weave together.r. By inserting Velostat between these layers, a series of pressure sensors was created. For the descriptions in Grasshopper, I used Firefly to simulate when pressure is applied to the material. Firefly is a Grasshopper plug in which links modeling and Arduino, allowing for interactive prototyping.

Woven Pressure Sensor - Conductive thread was used in the warp and weft to create circuits.

FURTHER EXPLORATION

I invision that this process could be reproduced on a very small scale, allowing for a material with dense sensing points.Within this project, I wanted to address how architects and designers could use computation to design and test materials within their own practice. To explore this theme, I am developing descriptions in Grasshopper with Firefly to simulate when pressure is applied to the material. I hope to continue these explorations with other materials and types of sensors.