Final Project: "The I.C.Scry"

The goal of my final project was to have an interactive hat that involved a color sensor and LED lights. I used the plans provided by Adafruit that was originally for a chameleon scarf . I took the concept of the chameleon scarf and applied it to a hat. Also, after I had finished my hat, I wanted to change the could where the color sensor took in input continuously instead of as a snapshot. I wanted to the LED light to change based on what color pixel the color senor was on.  

In the process of making this hat I used: the Brother Embroidery Machine (Eye of Hours and Ankh patches),  a hat from H&M (base), Flora Arduino board, Flora RBG pixel LEDS, Flora color sensor, conductive thread, Adafruit's Chameleon scarf code for Flora arduino, and ribbon.

Towards the due date of my project I began having issues with the color sensor and LED communication. At first it worked, but dimly, when i used alligator clips to test the sensor. Over time more issues arose. I appreciated this project because it challenged me to think in formats I had not before. This project also fortified my resilience and patience. 

I learned that Twitter, collaboration and internet forums are very important in the process of debugging and problem solving. In the end, I was only able to get my hat to display the LEDs and the interaction was being about to wear the hat. I plan to continue working on my hat. Some of the issues that could have kept my color sensor from working based on how my stitch (conductive thread)  was  organized near another line of communication. Also, the type of thread I used tended to fray a lot which could have also caused mismatches of communications between Arduino ports. And lastly, the  could have been my color sensor but my professor and I did several test which indicated that the color sensor seemed to be working fine by itself, but when we implement certain parts of the  provided code, the color sensor stopped delivering output in the serial monitor.  I am far from done with this project and I hope it fortifies my problem solving skill, simple electronics understanding, circuitry design skills.

When I am finally done with my hat, I will name it: The I.C.Scry. The meaning behind the name is that the I stands for "eye" as well as the relative stand point from the person wearing the hat. Also, the color sensor is behind the Eye of Horus which has an open pupil for the sensor. Scry which means  other reflective object or surface  or the act of scrying can be to look for something. The "C" stands for color and Scry speaks to the purpose of the color sensor (once continuously reading input).