Summary

This chapter has explored the world of microcontrollers and how we can use them to bring more life to our wearables. We looked at what a microcontroller is and what its main features are. We then focused on the powerful ESP32 after learning about its predecessor, the 8266, which started a huge shift in wearables because of its inclusion of Wi-Fi capabilities at a much lower cost. Our board of choice was the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP32 for several reasons, and it fit our project well. We looked at creating a wearable that would allow us to keep family and friends in our thoughts. This was a positive mental health and wellbeing project so we felt connected to loved ones who were at a distance.

To enable this technology and interaction, we looked at creating symbols that represented them and then accessing live data online. This was achieved through accessing an API service: in this example, it related to weather data. We then looked at making a non-traditional e-textile...