How-To: Weight-Sensitive Backpack

Becky Stern is a Content Creator at Autodesk/Instructables, and part time faculty at New York’s School of Visual Arts Products of Design grad program. Making and sharing are her two biggest passions, and she's created hundreds of free online DIY tutorials and videos, mostly about technology and its intersection with crafts. Find her @bekathwia on YouTube/Twitter/Instagram.

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@bekathwia

April 7th, 2010

Aniomagic built this weight-sensitive backpack and writes:

I’ve been traveling a lot with my backpack, sometimes putting too much in it, which is bad for my back. Taking a cue from this weight-sensing tote on Instructables , I decided to build one using schemer.

Schemer is a tiny programmable button that helps you easily make interactive art and craft. Instead of using wires or bluetooth, you program it by holding it in front of a computer screen. You only need your web browser. No wires, and no extra hardware or software to install.

With the schemer web interface on my iPhone, I can quickly calibrate it for my needs, or make it do random flashing patterns anytime I want, without breaking out a USB cable or anything. The 3 volt felt battery holder is eye-catching too, no?