Actuated Clothes Hanger
A shape-changing clothes hanger that reacts to how much attention you give your clothes.
⌗ Overview
Clothes that go unworn tend to disappear from our attention entirely. There's no feedback loop to notice what's being neglected.
This project turns an ordinary hanger into a closet companion — an object that waves, gets excited, and even droops based on how often its clothes are worn. Instead of a screen or a notification telling you "you haven't worn this in three weeks," the hanger itself changes its posture and behavior to make that neglect physically visible.
⌗ Concept
Catching Your Eye
As you browse the closet deciding what to wear, the hanger waves to draw your attention — a quiet nudge toward clothes you might otherwise pass over.
Excitement on Pickup
The moment you take it off the rack, the hanger spins with a burst of vibration, creating a small, satisfying reaction that rewards the choice.
Drooping from Neglect
Left untouched for too long, the hanger slowly droops to one side, its posture sagging as if the clothes themselves are giving up — making neglect something you can see, not just forget.
⌗ Primitive Motions
Spinning
Waving
Shrugging
Extending
⌗ Assembly
⌗ CAD Model
⌗ Schematics
Microcontroller: Seeed XIAO ESP32C3
Sensing: HLK-LD2420 24GHz mmWave radar (UART) for presence and distance detection
Haptics: DRV2605L driver (I2C) driving an LRA vibration motor
Actuation: 5 servos total
1× MG996R for full hanger rotation
4× SG90 for shoulder joints and scissor-mechanism linkages
⌗ Future work
Add a spring-and-pulley driven "neck" to enable extension / contraction motions like a sudden jump or bounce
Integrate an IMU to detect pick-up and put-down events, enabling longer-term tracking of usage patterns and decision-making
