Wireless Wearables and the Lilypad XBee

Kate Hartman creates new tools for expression through innovative applications of technology. Her individual and collaborative projects span the fields of wearable computing, mobile telephony, video installation, and conceptual art. Whether it’s houseplants that make phone calls or hats that amplify the voices in your head, her work explores the idea of enhancing relationships and illustrating the unseen. Hartman holds a B.A. from Bard College in Film and Electronic Arts and an M.P.S. from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Her work has been exhibited internationally and has been featured by the New York Times, BBC World Service, NPR, in the recently published book “Fashionable Technology”. She is currently a wearable technology consultant and an adjunct faculty member at New York University where she teaches courses in soft circuitry and physical computing.

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Robert Faludi is an graduate instructor at NYU and a specialist physical computing and networked objects. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. in Cognitive Psychology from New York University, and a second Masters in Interactive Telecommunications also from NYU. For ten years, his San Francisco-based Faludi Computing supported Internet startups like Match.com and Salon, and created interactive web sites for companies like Gap, Visa, Lonely Planet and American Eagle Outfitters. As a researcher for NYU’s Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, he investigated the connections between visual perception, motor action and the mathematical properties of environmental affordances. At ITP he specialized in physical computing, dense social networks and networked objects, work continued as a Resident Researcher there and at Microsoft Research. He frequently consults on interactive projects including recent work in entertainment, architecture, and toys. Faludi’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired Magazine, Good Morning America, BBC World and many other publications. Projects include Social Genius, a multimedia name-learning game; WildLight, a networked device that brings organic light to dark or windowless spaces and BlueWay, a networked location and wayfinding system. He is a co-creator of the LilyPad XBee wearable radios, and Botanicalls, a system that allows thirsty plants to place phone calls for human help.

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