“eBee: An Electronics Quilting Bee and Game” by Carlsson, Choi, Smith and Pearce

eBee is a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) project that combines game design, modern quilting, and e-textiles to blend the social experiences of a board game, a quilting bee, and an electronics maker community. The eBee team is developing a system consisting of a kit of pre-made components and design guidelines for producing quilting-based, electronics-enabled games. eBee merges the traditional craft of quilting, the social context of a board game, and “maker” and hacking culture to create a social experience aimed at bridging gender, ethnic, generational and social gaps associated with electronics and craft.

The eBee workshop for the SIGGRAPH Studio will be one of a series of participatory design workshops to develop a system and social framework for creating eBee experiences. Participants will be given a game design challenge and a set of components to develop and prototype game ideas around the theme of building an electronic quilt in the process of playing a board game. The game mechanic will revolve around completing circuits to activate effects that include LEDs, fans, or other electronic gadgets, activated by e-textile-based connections such as magnetic snaps or conductive buttons (Figure 1). The quilt is built upon a substrate of a soft circuit board.