Let us introduce you the vibe-ing product in short. More on the product description here.

Vibe-ing is a garment knitted out of merino wool. It currently contains 17 knitted pockets, equipped with electronic circuit boards with sensors (touch sensors) and actuators (vibration motors). The common placement of the sensors are on 3 body locations – shoulder area, lower part of the spine and chest area. The arrangement of the sensors is as following: 6 vibratory motors are placed across the shoulder area (transverse stripe), 3 vibratory motors are placed on the lower part of the spine and 8 motors are allocated symmetrically at the chest area.

Since the vibe-ing is currently designed in a tubular – dress-like – shape, it offers a flexibility in wearing the garment in different ways (upside down, back to the front) and therefore also an ability to apply the actuators on different body parts. The sensors and actuators are connected with each other by a conductive thread which is a part of the knitted design of the whole garment.

Vibe-ing garment (Photo: Kristi Kuusk)

The sensors and actuators can be easily programmed using the Arduino platform. The sensors and vibratory motors currently display one initial behavior based on a ripple pattern (similar to a wave in the water or sound travelling through air). A vibration would start in the pocket that was touched by the person wearing the garment. Then, slowly the vibration would transfer to the surrounding pockets, until it faded away after a certain period. It is therefore an open platform that offers many interaction opportunities for our team to work on.