Kukkia and Vilkas: kinetic electronic garments

This paper describes our first experiments in developing kinetic electronic garments, within the context of fashion and personal expression. We have integrated the shape memory alloy Nitinol in textile substrates to create Kukkia and Vilkas, two animated dresses that move or change shape over time, using resistive heating and control electronics. We describe fabrication details, including Nitinol shape setting and felting of the textile substrate. We suggest various models for programming the behavior of such an artifact, including animated, reactive, and interactive models.