iPod Glove

The Idea

Background Information

These images and information are taken from Maushammer's Apple iPod Remote Control Protocol site.

We've also relied on a previous ITP project, iChair.

Sensor Testing

Wiring and Soldering

Initially, we removed the green (data) and yellow (ground) wires from the remote and connected them to Arduino. Soon we realized that we couldn't send information to the remote - it's a one-way deal.

So the next step was to cut the wires and solder connections to them.

Hatti, Seamstress in Residence, Soldering Goddess

Problems in the Land of Solder

In Hatti's words: "This whole week has involved soldering and resoldering. Turns out, hacking into commercial devices are terribly tricky. At first, we tried just hot glue-ing straight into the remote because there is some type of film on the surface connectors that repells the solder. That is to say, once you have completed the (perfect) solder, it pops right off of the surface. Using only the hot glue worked…THE DAY OF. Overnight, however, the glue, I’m assuming, had seeped under the wires, thus disrupting the continuity and disabling the switch."
"It seemed as though I was trapped in a cycle of 1. solder for 8 hours, 2.have the ipod working 3.leave it overnight, 4.next day = not working... Finally, it occured to me to use fabric duct tape to cover the first solder (using an exacto knife to slide it perfectly over the boundaries of the two connectors) and then solder the second, and then immediately secure the positions with hot glue."

Goodbye Arduino, Hello PIC

After days of trying to send serial data to the ipod via Arduino with no success, Tom suggested we try to use the PIC chip instead. At this point, Hatti spent most of her time soldering and resoldering and sewing the FSRs and the remote, and I threw myself into the world of PIC.

The Next Phase

Still no luck using the PIC chip, so we've order a female connector for the iPod from Sparkfun so we can see what serial data the iPod spits out. Should be here around the 15th....just after finals are done. Perfect.