LilyPad

Draft

Introduction

“The LilyPad system is a set of sewable electronic pieces designed to help you build soft, sewable, interactive e-textile projects. Using LilyPad pieces is a great way to experiment with electronics through the lens of crafting. Each LilyPad piece has large conductive sew tabs for easy sewing and a rounded shape so as not to snag fabric or cut thread. The LilyPad system was designed by Leah Buechley while pursuing her Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Colorado Boulder. The commercial version of the kit, which launched in 2007, was collaboratively designed by Leah and SparkFun Electronics.” LilyPad Basics: E-Sewing (August, 2019)

This article will summarize some technical aspects. For a more conceptual discussion and research, see the e-textile article.

Variants

There are several variants for the main board from the official distributor (Sparkfun) and various other providers. The following list was made from the descriptions found on Sparkfun products page (August 20, 2019).

• LilyPad MP3 Player is your all-in-one audio solution, containing an Arduino-compatible microcontroller, MP3 (and many other formats) audio decoder chip, micro-SD card socket, and a stereo audio amplifier. Part of the Lilypad E-textiles line, this board can be used to give your fabric creations the gift of music, or any other sounds you can put on a micro-SD card

• LilyPad ProtoSnap Plus is a sewable electronics prototyping board that you can use to explore circuits and programming, then break apart to make an interactive fabric or wearable project. Programming the ProtoSnap Plus is easy with the free Arduino software you’ll need to program the ATmega32U4 on LilyPad USB Plus at the heart of the board. Once you’ve installed the software, you’ll be able to write and upload your own programs to the board, making it do almost anything you want.

• LilyPad SimpleSnap is a new, easy way to create e-textiles projects with LilyPad that are modular and can be disassembled or broken down, it's also a great way to prototype! The SimpleSnap board is similar to the LilyPad Simple board, and has the same functionality except for two major differences: A built-in rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery and female snap connectors. By adding fabric snaps to the board.

• LilyPad Arduino USB - ATmega32U4 Board. Controlled by an ATmega32U4 with the Arduino bootloader. It has a built in power supply socket and an on/off switch with the only extra piece of hardware you need to program the LilyPad USB is a micro-USB cable, since the new IC has built-in USB support. Any of our LiPo batteries can be plugged right into the JST socket to provide you with easy, on-the-go power.

• LilyPad USB Plus, a sewable electronics microcontroller board controlled by an ATmega32U4 with the Arduino bootloader. It has a built in power supply JST (and recharge circuit) and an on/off switch with the only extra piece of hardware you need to program the LilyPad USB Plus being a micro-USB cable. We've also added an RGB LED in the dead-center of the board along with six white LEDs to act as a sort of bar graph.

• LilyPad Arduino Simple Board: Controlled by an ATmega328 with the Arduino bootloader. It has fewer pins than the LilyPad Arduino Main Board, a built in power supply socket, and an on/off switch. Any of our LiPo batteries can be plugged right into the socket. The Simple board is designed to streamline your next sewable project by keeping things simple and giving you more room to work and eliminating the need to sew a power supply.

For some of these there a kits that include extra materials

There exist also various packs designed for teaching,

• for example. For example the LilyPad ProtoSnap Plus Lab Pack ($500). See its documentation

Links

tutorials

See

• tutorials at Sparkfun

Some tutorials at Sparkfun:

• LilyPad Basics: E-Sewing]
• LilyPad Basics: Powering Your Project
• LilyPad USB Plus Hookup Guide

At Arduino information:

• LilyPad Arduino Main Board
• Getting Started with the LilyPad Arduino, LilyPad Arduino Simple and LilyPad Arduino Simple Snap

Shops

• https://www.sparkfun.com/categories
• Various online sellers also carry Lilypad components, e.g. Distrelec in Switzerland.

... there also seem to be many different and cheaper clones (ok, since the design is open source)