Pimoroni’s Bearables collection offers a choice of two cute animal LED badges – bear and fox – along with a couple of sensors that can be attached to them using conductive thread. While the badges and sensors are available separately, the complete kit includes either a bear badge with motion sensor, or a fox badge with light sensor. Both versions include a generous 3 metres of conductive thread, along with a CR2032 coin cell that provides 3–4 days of active use (i.e. when the badge is not in sleep mode).
On its own, the badge can be operated manually by repeatedly pressing the tiny button on the side to switch between 12 different LED patterns: a good selection, including chase lights and fades. The LEDs are single colour, but come in six shades: blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and pink. There's also the possibility of creating your own custom patterns using a Raspberry Pi.
When sewing the badge to a garment or bag, you need to connect each of its two metal hooks to one of those on the sensor. Polarity doesn’t matter, but you need to avoid the two lengths of conductive thread touching. Getting a good enough connection also requires winding the thread four or five times around each hook – it’s best to secure it with a blob of clear nail varnish, too. Upon holding the badge button down, the attached sensor will then trigger the LEDs through motion or lack of light, depending on its type.
The badge can be hooked up to a Raspberry Pi via I2C. This involves soldering wires (or a header) to metal pads on the rear of the badge and connecting them to the relevant GPIO pins. Helpfully, Pimoroni has created a Bearables Python library (magpi.cc/2AcQ3H6) enabling you to control individual LEDs and respond to button presses. Since the badge hooks can read raw ADC values (0-255), they should be usable with pretty much any analogue sensor. Not only that, but they can read GPIO pins pulled high or low, opening up all sorts of possibilities for triggering LED patterns from the Pi.
Last word
5/5
Excellent value for money, the badge kit has everything you need to sew your interactive badge and sensor to clothes – although it should be noted that they don’t like water, so don't put them in the wash! Best of all, you can link the badge up to a Pi to create custom light patterns and a whole lot more.
