The Design Research Lab is a network of people, organisations, and non-human agents engaged at the intersection of technologies, materials, and social practices. Our aim is to design socially and ecologically sustainable tools, spaces, and knowledge that support people’s participation in a digital society – based on common principles of inclusiveness and respect for the planet. This puts the basic democratic right to take part in the digital sphere into practice. We start our research from individual lifeworlds and the needs of minoritized groups, beyond consumer majorities.
We are an interdisciplinary team of designers, researchers, tech-enthusiasts and critical thinkers from Berlin University of the Arts, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, as well as Einsteincenter Digital Future (ECDF).
This woven pressure/stretch sensor-blanket works as a digital circuit and was developed to demonstrate the connection between textile objects and the CLICK platform developed by DAI-Labor. By stretching or putting pressure on the blanket you can control (switch on/off) other devices connected to the same platform.
The fabric is two-ply, with one layer being plain weave and the other waffle weave. In the area of the sensor surface single threads of conductive yarn are woven into both layers. The waffle weave forms a relief-like structure that serves as a spacer between the conductive filaments. Only by pressing or stretching the fabric the conductive threads of the two layers meet.
Vertical stripes of conductive yarn run along the sides of the fabric to ensure the connection between the sensor surface and the embroidered micro controller.
The blanket was developed as a part of the UHCI project and exhibited at CEBIT 2014.