HairIO by Hybrid Ecologies in the Press
BCNM Designated Emphasis Students Molly Nicholas and Christine Dierk, Sarah Sterman, and faculty member Eric Paulos, were featured in Hackster.io, Arduino, Boing Boing, Hackaday, The Siver Telegram, The Siver Times, and Syfy's websites for their latest invention: Hairlö!
From the Hackster.io article:
"The device — developed by Christine Dierk, Sarah Sterman, Molly Nicholas, and Eric Paulos in the Hybrid Ecologies Lab at UC Berkeley — is a heavily modified hair extension, embedded with nitinol wire, a shape memory alloy. While it maintains a certain shape when cool, it assumes a second shape when heated, meaning that the hair braid can physically modify its form depending on the situation. Additionally, a thermochromic pigment is used to allow the braid to change colors when heated.
"The color/shape change is controlled via an Arduino Nano, with a an Adafruit Bluefruit module that enables it to respond to signals such as phone messages. It could also be employed as a subtle “do not disturb” signal, letting others know by your curled hair braid that you’re busy with another task. Besides Bluetooth, HäirIÖ can recognize touch through capacitive sensing, letting wearers reply to “hair signals” by interacting with it directly."
Read the rest of the article here.
Read the Arduino article here.
Read the Boing Boing article here.
Read the Hackaday article here.
Read the Siver Telegram article here.
Read the Siver Times article here.
Read the Syfy article here.
Check out more on Hairlö in the Hybrid Ecologies Lab video below!