Using conductive materials as sensors

By using conductive materials, fabrics, tapes, and other various items, we can create our own sensors. In the previous chapter, we used a zipper as a switch, but we can adapt it to alert us if a zipper is opened or closed, for example. We might have it on a backpack, and if the wearer hasn’t closed the zipper, we can alert them.

Activity 5.7 – Sound and touch

Another way we can use the conductive materials is to sense our touch. We’re going to use touch to create a musical circuit:

Figure 5.34 – Conductive tape as a touch sensor

The Circuit Playground Classic board has eight hardware touch inputs. We can use these to sense our touch as a sensor input. Using conductive fabric, we can cut to shape the sensor we want and then attach it to the board.

To make this, you’ll need conductive material, a Circuit Playground Classic board, and conductive thread to sew it together. You can...