AutoLight Tutorial

One day in the future humans might be able to see in the dark without having to turn on a flashlight or wear night-vision goggles. In the meantime, with the aid and versatility of SkinLink, we have AutoLight: A hands-free wearable eyebrow mount that uses an ambient light sensor to turn on automatically in low-light.

Autolight is made up of a SkinLink MCU module, an ambient light sensing module, and a white neopixel LED module as well as elastic resin printed housings for the skin link module, light sensor, and LED.

Aesthetically inspired by the Borg from Star Trek, it boasts a rather conspicuous cyberpunk aesthetic, in hopes to push humans further toward an augmented future with new abilities.

Tools and Materials

  1. Elastic 50A Formlabs resin tank

  2. SkinLink MCU module

  3. Ambient Light Sensing Module

  4. Neopixel RGB LED Module

Construction Steps

Cover and housing design

  1. Create a design with structures that accommodate the SkinLink MCU module, Ambient Light Sensing Module, and Neopixel RGB LED Module

  2. Open the .stl in PreForm and print it on a Formlabs From 3 printer in clear resin

  3. Soak in isopropanol alcohol bath after print

  4. Color the prints with acrylic paint to match the desired skin tone

Circuit Preparation

  1. Layout SkinLink modules on face, adjust the placement accordingly to avoid bending the flexible connectors 

  2. Program SkinLink in Arduino

Attachment

  1. Attach the MCU module with DUO eyelash glue

  2. Attach the cover for the MCU with DUO eyelash glue

  3. Attach the housing of sensor and LED modules with DUO eyelash glue

  4. Insert sensor and LED module into their corresponding housings

Power

  1. Insert the battery onto the battery connector on MCU module, tuck the battery behind the ear

 
 

ThermalDermal Tutorial

Pain relief envisioned as something you could wear while going out at night. Current heating patches are squares or ovals. ThermalDermal proposes any one-line shape as the substrate for heat. In the example below, it is pictured as a “hot tramp stamp”. A wearable patch that is both physically and conceptually hot.

Tools and Materials

  1. Gennel conductive cloth fabric adhesive tape

  2. Ecoflex silicone 00-30

  3. Thermochromic pigment

  4. Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire - 50ft 30AWG White

  5. Vinyl cutter

  6. Xacto blade or box cutter

Construction Steps

Design

  1. Create a 4mm thickness of one-liner 2D design, avoid any intersections

Vinyl cutting the design from tape

  1. Import the design into Silhouette, vinyl cut it on conductive fabric tape

  2. Remove the negative area of the tape

Solder wires

  1. Measure the resistance of the trace, ideal resistance is around 10 ohms.

  2. Solder wires onto each end of the trace

Silicone cast

  1. Mix 5 grams of part A and 5 grams of part B of Ecoflex

  2. Add 0.5 grams of thermochromic pigments

  3. Place the vinyl cut tape on a flat surface, pour the silicone mixture onto the vinyl cut tape to achieve an even layer

  4. After the silicone fully cures, flip it and cut out the shape with a Xacto knife

Attachment

  1. Microporous tape layered across to create desired thickness

  2. Layered uline tape over to desired thickness

  3. Place tattoo on top right side facing out and cut tape layers to fit tattoo 

  4. Stick to skin or plastic backing to store

 
 
 

HearingAngel Tutorial

Imagining current wearables less as something to hide and more as something to flaunt and show off. Hearing aids typically tuck discreetly behind the ear for minimal visibility. This project rests in front of the ear, proudly showing off its audacious sculptural and material form.

It mimics a common tattoo motif of an angel whispering in an ear, but doubles as a functional object, amplifying sound. The angel is literally whispering!

Tools and Materials

  • Formlabs clear resin

  • Hearing Aid

Construction Steps

Disassembly

  1. disassemble the hearing aid using a screwdriver

  2. Apply hot glue around the wire connection to PCB

Design

  1. Download an ear 3D model 

  2. Pose a human mesh around it

  3. Use a boolean to remove the shape of the ear from the model 

  4. Use another boolean to accommodate the PCB of the hearing aid

  5. Export .stl file

  6. Open the .stl in PreForm and print it on a Formlabs From 3 printer in clear resin

  7. Soak in isopropyl alcohol bath after print

Assembly

  1. Insert the hearing aid PCB into the 3D print

  2. Apply dots of hot glue onto non-essential areas

CoolingUnit Tutorial

Picturing the surface of the human body as no different from that of a car or personal computer. In the future there might be an increasing need to cool embedded implants. Using 3D printed elastic resin, real PC fans are “installed” onto the surface of skin.

Tools and Materials

  • Elastic 50A Formlabs elastic resin tank

  • Fan

  • Battery

  • Switch connector

  • Wires

    • Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire - 50ft 30AWG White

    • Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire - 50ft 30AWG Black

Construction Steps

Resin printing

  1. Open the .stl in PreForm and print it on a Formlabs Form 3 printer in elastic 50A resin

  2. Soak in isopropyl alcohol bath after print

Circuit connection

  1. Desolder wires on the fan, solder silicone-coated stranded wire to the fan, note the polarity: white for + and black for -

  2. Fitting soldered fans into the 3D print

  3. Feed the wires through the channels in the 3D print

  4. Solder the wires to the battery connector, white wires -> SW, black wires -> GND

Apply:

  1. Clean with alcohol swab as needed

  2. Use DUO eyelash glue to apply the CoolingUnit on skin

UVScale Tutorial

UV Scale is a set of flexible resin printed scales that will visually change color under UV light. The scales are to be applied on the skin using a safe skin adhesive in a pattern which emulates a snake's skin as it basks in the sunlight. The pattern of snake skin is an irregular sort of tessellation that easily and naturally warps with the unusual geometry of the human body. 

Tools and Materials

  • Elastic 50A Formlabs resin tank

  • Photochromic pigment

  • UV Resin soft type

  • DUO eyelash glue

Construction Steps

Prepare the resin print

  1. Convert .svg file of scale 2D design to mesh in Blender

  2. Extrude the plane to desired thickness

  3. Export as .stl file

  4. Open the .stl in PreForm and print it on Formlabs From 3 printer in elastic 50A resin

Apply photochromic pigments

  1. Mix 1 gram of purple photochromic pigment into 5 grams of UV resin soft type

  2. Apply the mixture on the edges of each scale piece with a paintbrush

  3. Curing under a UV lamp for 2 minutes

Skin application

  1. Apply DUO eyelash glue onto the bottom of each piece, wait for it to turn tacky and apply them onto skin.