Adafruit FLORA Selected By element14 For Wearable Technology Design Challenge [VIDEO]

The latest design challenge from element14 asks engineers to design their own piece of wearable technology. To get developers started quickly, element14 selected the FLORA family of products from Adafuit.

The FLORA mainboard is the size of a man’s watch face and designed to be literally sewn into an item of clothing or fabric accessory using a special steel wire to run the circuitry within the seams.  It is programmed via a built in USB and supports USB HID (human interface device) so it can act like a mouse, keyboard or to attach directly to mobile phones to connect to other users or remote data.

Related Article – Adafruit FLORA Arduino Compatible Wearable Electronics Platform

The FLORA allows easy control and power of a large quantity of addressable RGB LEDs so all types of displays, effects or indication are possible to provide decoration and functional indication. It is also designed to be robust and as accessible as possible for beginners. The fabric friendly board which weights just 4.4g, has no bare headers which could limit location or damage fabric.

Complete details for the challenge can be found on the element14 design challenge page, summarized here:

Five RoadTest challenge competitors (that could be you!) will build wearable electronics projects to enhance your daily lives using the FLORA platform. Possible applications:

telepresence color-changing lamps

GPS-guided scavenger hunts

motion-activated bouquets for Mom

We are looking for technology that helps people get that much closer.

We will be selecting the competitors after the enrolment period closes on July 15th.  Shortly afterwards, each competitor will be provided with the following bundle of items:

• FLORA GPS Starter Pack (includes the Adafruit FLORA board)
• Tactile On/Off Switch with Leads
• FLORA  Lux Sensor – TSL2561 Light Sensor (v1.0)
• FLORA Accelerometer/Compass Sensor – LSM303(v1.0)
• Magnetic Pin Back
• JST-PH Battery Extension Cable – 500mm
• Woven Conductive Fabric – Silver 20cm square
• FLORA Color Sensor – TCS34725

The competition will run from the end of July through September.  Competitors will be judged on their creative fulfillment of the challenge and by the quality of media produced during the course of their projects: blog posts, videos and designs, all of which will be posted on the Arduino group.  The winner will receive a grand prize of one Arduino Robot and a handmade wearable electronics project by Adafruit/Becky Stern (like the LED Ampli-Tie or Sparkle Skirt).

The Adafruit FLORA kits can be purchased in the US from Newark.com and in Europe from Farnell.com.  Customers who purchase the kits are also invited to enter the project.  To find out more, or submit an idea, head over to the dedicated page on the element14 Community .

(Image Credit -Adafruit )

(Video Credit -Adafruit)

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