CONCEPT SKETCHES
The concept for this project is inspired by daily verbal interactions with other people that occur when walking together. I have observed that the human body naturally and unconsciously pace itself and synchronize with another human body during communication and interaction. Thus I propose the idea of a pair of shoes –one shoe for each participant- that react positively to the synchronized steps. This can motivate the users to continue verbal interaction in an outdoor environment as they attempt to sustain the shoe’s reaction; it as well allows users to realize and understand that the level of interaction can be represented through body movement.
I wanted to make this concept is meant to be light-hearted, fun, and delightful, so I will be using pretty LED’s and music as outputs for the shoes when synchronized to motivate the same pace. The use of LED’s is to place a direct indication of synchronization that does not distract from the users verbal interactions, such that the LED indication adds subtly to the concept as the users work together to figure out how the shoes work. While the music that plays motivates the users to continue walking together in collaboration to keeps the music playing.
The force sensor is the input such that when both users apply pressure on their shoes from the same foot at the same time the users “synchronize” and the output is generated for a small amount of time. To maintain the output of lights and music is to maintain this synchronized pace.
The flower pattern for the LEDs is just an idea but I would like to represent the light-up icon like a puzzle piece that completes the icon on each shoe.
In general there is a great difficulty in hiding all the parts of this project into the confined space of a shoe, thus I predict inevitable changes in the inputs and outputs.
Even though the input and output is extremely simplistic, it adds subtly to the project and focuses more in the delightful aspect in the experience. I believe there is great potential given the simplicity of this concept; I could see these shoes as a way to motivate unity with a large group of people in performance arts or even stretching physical interaction into a global scale.
PROCESS & ITERATION
Prototype parts
I bought these slippers from daiso for this prototype mostly because of the large amount of space and thick fabric to it. Fitting whatever i could into these slippers will be a huge challenge but luckily I have small feet.
In my initial concept I wanted to add audio to the shoes to further motivate physical engagement amongst friends. However there was just not enough space to fit an SD card protoshield as well as a speaker into the slippers, so this idea has been left out of the prototype. Meanwhile coding for bluetooth was a larger hastle than I had presumed because of the required arduino to arduino communication. Which also meant I would have had to duplicate each technical component such that each shoe would have its own bluetooth arduino, breadboard protoshield, battery pack, LED, and force sensor. Thus i decided to focus on exploring the best and efficient way to compartmentalize in one shoe rather than two.
I forgot to get a battery pack from Lee's, so this is a separate picture of the components bought for the battery pack. I later soldered the wires to be efficiently connectable to arduino
Breadboard Wiring
This image shows how I wired everything with the breadboards for convenient adjustments while I coded for Arduino.
Here's a video making sure that the wiring worked fine. At a certain input value/pressure allied onto the force sensors is only when the LEDs will switch on. So if one force sensor reaches the value but not the other, nothing will happen. This input is implimented so that the force sensor reads a person taking a step, and when the friend takes a step at the same time.
Here I reorganized the wiring so that all the wires stick out of the front end of the slipper, while the LED is positioned exactly in the right place to be shown.
Fitting everything in
the left slipper...
I sewed two fabrics together, which would be sewn onto the underside of the slipper as a pocket for the Arduino and battery pack. The striped fabric is more slippery and smooth so that the Arduino and battery pack could slip into the pocket without getting caught into anything; the white felt fabric cushions the user's feet for a more pleasant experience.
This is how the wired Arduino and battery pack was slipped into the makeshift pocket. This installation gives easy access to turn the battery pack on or off, while conveniently allows for my constant need to code the Arduino to callibrate sensor sensitivities.
This is what I had meant by positioning the LED correctly to be shown. Sadly my non-diffused green light broke before the due date so I had to use a diffused red light to indicate some sort of output on one slipper. The diffused red LED was a really poor choice since it wasn't even bright enough to be noticeable from afar.
the right slipper...
LEDs are used to indicate synchronization when two people walk at the same pace. I decided to use a green light because it means activity, correction, and continuation. The non-diffused LEDs that was used is a lot more effective than the diffused LEDs.
I found out that the slippers were made of foam while cutting the hole for the LEDs, which actually makes wiring the LEDs a lot easier and sturdier since all I had to do was poke the wire through.
It is kind of hard to see, but I had two jumper wires that help extend the length of the LED (green - positive, orange - negative) from the underside of the slipper. I sewed the jumperwires close to the foam cover to secure it off as well move the wires away from uncomfortable disruption during user experiences.
This is a comparison image to show how far the LED and force sensors were stuck into both slippers. So the force sensor is located right in front of the heel of the slipper.
Since I had decided not to move forward with bluetooth, I had to directly wire the force sensor and LED from the right slipper to the left slipper containing the Arduino. I soldered wires close to each other, but I used alligator clips for the extension because of its flexibility and security. I further used electric tape to keep all the wires together so that walking with them would not be a huge disruption.
ARDUINO CODE
There were some coding calibrations required throughout the process of making my prototype, which is why I kept the Arduino USB cord accessible in the slipper until I sewed it shut at the very end.
I initially set the LEDs to activate when the force sensor hit a much higher value (of 200 or so), rather than 50 indicated in the code. However I placed the force sensor underneath a cardboard insole of the slippers, such that really dampened the pressure on the sensor.
I also extended the length of time (delay) for which the LEDs stay lit much longer than I had initially planned - from half a second to a 1.5 seconds. It didn't really occur to me that walking strides could be very slow, since I myself have short legs so my pace is much quicker.
VIDEO DEMO
In this video demonstration I am simply taking steps from left and right, however if this was introduced to other users this would be a two-person interaction. So imagine that my two legs and feet as spit apart as two people. So if the two wearers are not stepping at the same pace, nothing will happen. But if they are stepping at the same time, the LEDs of both slippers will light up at the same time, giving 1.5 seconds of time before the next synchronized step is required to keep the light on.
