Expressive Wearable
Mus
(pronounced like Muse)
Mus is the musical glove meant for enhancing expression in conversation. Mus specializes in 3 situations: sneaky, intimidating, and adventurous. Through fun song choice, these silly expressions can be amplified when used during a conversation with a friend. If you need to sneak away like a spy, enter a conversation like a supervillain, or just need an adventurous getaway; Mus does it all.
Constraints
Timeline: 4 weeks
Type: Individual project
Project Description: A wearable that amplifies the expressiveness of the wearer using one input and one output with three varying states. The model must be low-resolution with inexpensive materials. No wires or battery packs may be visible.
Week 1: Initial Concepts
Week 2: Concept Selection + Component Specification
I chose the mini hand music maker (concept number 28) because I was inspired by the scene in Spongebob where Mr. Krabs plays a sad song on the world's tiniest violin. It truly expressed a 'boo hoo' emotion in a funny and memorable way.
Putting all the electronics in a glove would allow me to achieve that kind of hand motion with various emotions.
The components needed to make my music glove functional were fairly simple; 50 mm soft potentiometer, small QT Py microcontroller, cheap and tiny breadboard, and a 5V buzzer.
The glove to house everything needed to be something thin, full glove to hide my wires (alas, unlike my initial concept of just fingers).
Week 3: Breadboard + Integrated Model
Following the block diagram I created, as well as doing some online research for the documentation of the parts I chose, a breadboard model proving the function was created.
I chose a few fun songs to test.
Post breadboard model, I soldered longer wires to run it into a thin cotton glove. The soft pot was placed on the thumb, while the buzzer sat tucked in the palm.
Week 4: Final Integrated Model
Main edits made: embroidered the glove to better convey the use, changed from stranded wire to silicon wire, 5V buzzer to Stemma Speaker, and jacket added to hide everything.
Final glove design.
Final wire placement depiction.
Compact wires and mount QT Py to breadboard.
Changed wires to silicon wires for flexibility.
Embroider music notes onto back of glove to better convey use.
Finished glove.
Mus
in use
State 1: Pink Panther theme (sneaky)
State 2: Imperial March (intimidating)
State 3: Pirates of the Caribbean (adventurous)
