# Introduction

Paper and textiles are of the oldest, most resilient, and most cherished media. It's pretty simple stuff, yet they offer endless forms of inspiration and expression. You can print it, fold it, weave it, stitch it, dye it, and draw on it. But have you ever thought of the possibility of making circuits with it and running current through it? In this module you will learn how to create paper and textiles that speak, light up, and move with the help of electronic components.Textile and paper are as low-tech as it goes. Their invention dates back thousands of years, meaning that their properties have been thoroughly explored, but far from being exhausted. E-textiles and e-paper are emerging fields of research that is offering exciting possibilities to work technology into soft and tactile materials. While integrating things such as lights, sounds, or movement into 'old media' is not a new thing, the switches, sensors, processors and power supplies that drive these interactions are now becoming small enough to envision their everyday use. The technology will certainly become even smaller, and the potential for responsive printed or woven materials will become greater. This module is your starting point for you to explore some basic experiments with paper and strings, augmented by electronic things.

## Schedule

weekly schedule
Week Group What
36 Group 1 & 2 Intro: Conductivity
37 Group 1 Workshop 1: Connecting
38 Group 2 Workshop 1: Connecting
39 Group 1 Workshop 2: Touch sensors
40 Group 2 Workshop 2: Touch sensors
41 Group 1 Workshop 3: Sound
42 Group 2 Workshop 3: Sound
44 Group 1 Individual project
45 Group 2 Individual project
46 Group 1 & 2 Individual project presentations
• The first five weeks are structured as 4 hour workshops focusing on either conductivity, touch/sensing or sound/actuation.
• The last four weeks you will develop your own project. The schedule remains the same alternating structure but the hours and space are reserved to work on your project.
• Week 46 is the final presentation of your project.

## Short Bi-weekly workshop description

### Introduction 1 (2h)

This workshop is all about resistance and conductivity. You will explore what materials can conduct electricity, are insulators or something in between.

### Workshop 1 (4h)

Using paper and textiles to create circuits. Light LEDs, create a pop-up book etc. etc. You will also need the knowledge acquired during the first workshop.

### Workshop 2 (4h)

How can you give your project a sense of the outside world. You will find ways to craft your own touch sensors using paper, textile and possibly other materials. You will also need the knowledge acquired during the first workshop.

### Workshop 3 (4h)

Besides sensing the world, letting the world know how you feel is equally important. These 4 hours are for finding ways letting your projects actuate. Have a look at sound but perhaps motion as well.

# Workshop 1: Resistivity & Conductivity (+/- 1 hour)

Resisitivity (and it's counterpart conductivity) is the property of a material to oppose (or support) the flow of electricity. If a material has high conductivity we usually call it a conductor. If, on the other hand, it has very high resistivity it is called an insulator.

The resistance of an object is dependent on the geometry of the object and the resistivity of the material it is made from.

resistance of an object

This is usually expressed as: $\rho\frac{l}{a}$

The unit of resistance is Ohms (Ω)

A list of the resitivity and conductivity of various materials can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity#Resistivity_and_conductivity_of_various_materials

Measuring To measure the resistance of an object we can use a resistance setting of a multi meter. Simply connect the red and black to either side of the object and read the value of the screen images/2-3.png The value you read is in Ohms.

Another way is to connect an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and a battery. If the resistance is low the LED will light very bright (or burn out!), if the resistance is high it will be dim or not light up at all.

Assignment • Find one or more materials and explore it's conductive and resistive properties. • Note your findings • Present your findings

The idea behind this assignment is that you get an idea of what the determines the resistance of an object and how it can change under certain conditions.

This is quite vital when working with circuits and materials like paper and textile. For example, paper and textile are both (mostly) flexible. Flexing a certain material can have some influance on it's resisitive properties. If you understand this you can exploit this to make for example a bend sensor (we will see examples of this in one of the other workshops).

When exploring it's properties think about and measure what happens when you bend it, stretch, heat it, hit it with a hammer etc. etc.. Think about how you can use this in an actual application.

Present your findings to the rest of the group.