My "Get Closer" Wearables Project Idea

As shown on the "Get Closer" challenge page, I was lucky enough to be selected to bring my project idea into reality, which I'm exceedingly excited about.

The original (basic) project idea came to my mind when I first saw the new Adafruit Flora product, then when I saw the element14 competition I decided that I should have a try at entering it with my project idea but didn't have time to do it straight away. This proved to be a lucky coincidence as I went out for a skate that evening (Inline roller skating) I realised that there were several other features which would be essential and so had the opportunity to add them to my idea proposal.

The original idea was to be able to display my current speed using an LED bar representation, but whilst out skating I decided that quite often I get myself in a situation where I don't know exactly how to get home so I will also be planning to use the LEDs to display the direction back to my home location from my current (facing) direction. I will also implement distance based on the colour of the LED so I know when it would be a good time to go home (It's no fun to skate until your absolutely tired out and then realised you have to do all the distance again to get home!).

Now I'm expecting someone to point out that most phones will do all of this, but there are two main issues with using a phone whilst skating. Whilst my phone is always in my pocket tracking my route, getting it out to view my current speed or location has 2 issues, firstly looking at a phone screen whilst skating drastically increases my chance of hitting a crack or kerb in the road and falling over and then whilst falling over if my phone is in my hand then it is likely to be the first thing to hit the floor, and potentially get broken. This would be costly and an inconvenience with a high-end smartphone as you can imagine!

This will all be sewn on to the sleeve of my skating jacket which is looking rather tired currently so I will also be planning to sew a new jacket, I have a new pattern that I would like to try but I still need to find the 'perfect' fabric for this so I will also keep you up to date on the progress of my jacket.

This will be phase 1,implemented in the following order, at this stage it will be prototyped using crocodile clips:

1.1) Speed representation

1.2) Direction to fixed home location

1.3) Distance home (In a straight line back)

There are some draft and some fixed plans for future phases, but I will update you on the details once phase 1 is close to completion. I will also elaborate on the details in each stage of the phases as I start the project section, so stayed tuned for more information

Please note, I haven't yet received my kit yet, so I will publish a post with more elaborate details on the items provided in the kit once I have it in my hands. I'm currently on holiday at my parents, so I'm looking forwards to getting back to work where I'm hoping that it will be waiting on my desk.