The Godzilla Dorsal Plates are a series of paper spikes made of cleaning paper, taped with hockey tape to the back of a hoodie. The tape keeps the paper spikes on the sweater while also hiding an LED strip which makes up the main portion of the hoodie. The hood with two pieces of fabric stitched together so there is space inside the hood to keep all the electronics used in the project. Most electronic calculation is done using the Adafruit Playground Express, which has a sensor able to track three axis. A battery pack is used to charge the device. When turned on, a drop in the Z axis, or the users head being tilted down beyond a certain threshold initiates a light sequence in which each of the 5 paper dorsal plates light up one after another until they all light up .After that the lights flash on and off 3 times. The project is meant to represent a physical wearable representation of Godzilla’s atomic breath sequence using his dorsal plates. The startup represents the windup of Godzilla’s atomic breath and the blinking light represents the actual atomic breath. Cleaning paper was used as the dorsal plate material due to it’s relative durability and ability to store light in a way to make it look like the entire plate is glowing. One of the major objectives of the project was to make sure as little technology is being used while looking at the hoodie. There is a small hole in the back of the hood which lets the LED strip and Arafruit Playground Express connect. It was made for Godzilla fans.
The hoodie was inspired by another Godzilla hoodie given to me as a gift. While the original idea was to use it as the project and attack any technology in a way so that it would harm the hoodie as little as possible I eventually decided to use an entirely different sweater for the project. I did however use calculations of the sweaters dorsal plates to use as a rough inspiration for my own original dorsal plates. The project is also directly inspired by atomic breath sequences in multiple recent Godzilla movies. Notibly a scene in the 2014 movie in the final act where Godzilla’s dorsal plates are shown lighting up in sequence from his tail towards his head. Another recent oxample of this happening in a Godzilla movie is the recent Godzilla Minus One. The project was also made immediately enticing when looking at the functionality and uses of an LED lightsrip and the different ways it can be programmed.
Parts and Materials
- Hoodie with zipper
- Cleaning paper
- LED Strip
- Multi Coloured Wires
- Adafruit Pllayground Express
- Solder
- Battery Pack with Two Batteries
- Black Hockey Tape
- Clear Tape
Video Demonstration : https://youtu.be/1QwX0kvh6iY
Wearability Criteria
I met all three of my wearability criteria points, those being Aesthetics, Novelty and Simplicity. Aesthetics and novelty are pretty simple, since the hoodie is meant to emulate Godzilla the aesthetics would be similar to that of Godzilla and the novelty would the the blinking Dorsal Plates charging up. Being generally cool but especially cool in areas with lowlight. The simplicity comes from the fact that as a wearable all it really has going on is a LEDstrip and some hidden mechanics. I used as little materials as possible to create the desired effect and the hoodiehas one function. Some of the technology used was a little advanced however so if you were to look at it through that lens you may not call it simplistic.
Challenges and Successes
I encountered a few technical errors while making the project. There was some panic when I cut my LED strip to optimal size because I thought it stopped working but it was something else that had disconnected. The major onee was that re-soldering my project meant that sometimes it would remove the connection, making the actual test day terrifying due to the fact that it could stop working randomly at any time. Not being able to see your technology is also a terrifying experience when it randomly stops working.
Next Steps
The biggest thing I would do as a next step for this project is to use better materials. The cleaning paper worked extraordinarily well for what it was supposed to do but I feel some bendable frames and see through fabric would have a better effect. I would also use a better hoodie. Other than that I feel as though what I did was good enough to not be repeated.