A short video where I introduce my latest wacky project: a flower-covered hoodie that lights up depending on the weather.
If you aren't a video-watching person, here's the gist:
The Background
I'm so sick of winter and freezing rain and cold dreary days that I feel compelled to make something vibrant. I started to imagine a wearables project with bright colors and light, something that would really come to life with the spring.
The Components
- Flora (probably)
- CC3000 WiFi breakout
- Lipoly battery
- Tactile button
- 30ish Neopixels (maybe more, maybe some LED sequins too)
- Hoodie
- Oodles of fake flowers
The Concept
The woman who rang me up at the craft store thought I was a little crazy to be buying so many kinds of fake flowers. But I was inspired! It came to me like a vision of spring: a flower-covered hoodie, its crimson blossoms illuminated from within, the lights changing depending on the weather. April showers bring spring flowers, amIright? The idea is to use the CC3000 WiFi Breakout to pull local weather information from the Open Weather API. When it's warm and sunny, the hoodie's flowers will glow red and orange and yellow: the warmer the redder, the sunnier the brighter. If it rains, it will get blue and twinkle depending on the amount of precipitation.
The Problem
I couldn't find a tutorial that uses the Flora with the CC3000. But my preliminary research looks promising. I'm about 75% sure that I can get it to work, I just have to firm up what pins to connect where. If the CC3000 doesn't work out, I'll try bluetooth. If that doesn't work either then I'll swap the Flora for a Teensy. But no matter what, I promise you that my fabulously weird flower hoodie will become a reality.
The Other Problem
I'd really like the hoodie to display forecast information rather than live information, but I'm afraid it might get too complicated to implement in this version. *fingers crossed*
