Mentor Check-in: Chris Hill

We talked to Chris Hill for advice on our project. He's a graduate student who works with circuits in his human augmentation projects. Here's a summary of key points we discussed:

• Can use nylon tape instead of copper tape - more reliable

• Conductive glue and ink exists

• Chibitronics - resource for paper circuits

• Have a “character” outside of the book that acts as a power source for the entire book instead of having batteries on every page

• Can use SMA (shape memory alloy) wire for pushing out a pop-up, such as a flower

• Look into interaction involving completing the circuit - use magnets under the paper like a threadboard

Materials

I asked Chris if he had any recommendations for materials we could use to make building our circuits easier. He suggested that if we were having trouble with copper tape, nylon tape would work better as it can more consistently let the current flow, as opposed to copper tape which can more easily fail. In terms of other conductive materials, there exists conductive glue as well as SMA wire that can be used for making things pop-up if a current is passed through it. We could look into these materials for making incorporating our paper circuits and interactions easier.

Design Ideas

One question I brought up for our paper circuits was if Chris had any recommendations for how to power the circuits on each page. In our prototype phase right now we're using small coin batteries to power our circuits, however I pointed out that this would probably be impractical for our final design since we would have to change the battery for every page that uses one. Chris suggested that we use one power source on the outside of the book, and we could disguise it as a character that stays with the reader throughout all the pages. This could be a route we choose since the outside power source could be an Arduino, which would allow us to program sensor interactions as well.

He also brought up a suggestion for an interaction: have the readers complete a circuit on the pages in order to turn on some interactions as a way for them to learn about circuits as well. One way this can be achieved is if we place magnets underneath the page and incorporate conductive thread as the method for completing the circuit. This is something we could look into for some pages with story that involves completing a task, such as when Willie builds a garden with flowers and vegetables that will sprout after a condition is met.

Resources

Finally Chris pointed out a resource called Chibitronics, a company that specializes in paper circuits. They made videos demonstrating the possibilities of paper circuits in books, which is something we could reference for sure.