Making Toys 6

Snoozy on BoingBoing Gadgets, Gizmodo, Engadget, Make, and more

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/05/18/snoozy-the-sloth-a-s.html

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/20/snoozy-the-sloth-is-a-breathing-napping-toy-after-our-own-heart/

http://gizmodo.com/5260340/snoozy-the-sloth-is-a-creepy-comforting-stuffed-animal-that-really-breathes

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/05/snoozy_sloth_the_breathing_plushie.html

http://www.arduinoshow.com/show/2009/05/snoozy-the-sloth/

http://hackaday.com/2009/05/18/snoozy-the-sloth/ 

Also Featured on:

• BotJunkie
• CrunchGear 
• Botropolis   

 An animated Snoozy via CrunchGear:

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/20/daily-crunch-bus-stop-edition/ 

 Thanks for the posts! 

Snoozy the Sloth: A Breathing Plush Toy

Snoozy the Sloth is a plush toy with a respiratory system. He sleeps while clinging onto a user, allowing them to feel both the contraction and expansion of his chest, as well exhaling of air from his mouth. The main concept behind snoozy is to create an intimate, yet passive, toy interaction that relaxes and comforts a user, through the tactile experience of steady breathing patterns. 

Role 1: Amanda is a 9 year old girl who's often troubled by riding in the car. She's usually comforted by one of her parents or siblings, but when it's just she and her mom riding in the car, she becomes quite upset. Snoozy gentle breathing patterns and soft body can help calm her down during those lonely rides. 

Role 2: Erin is a 24 year old female currently attending grad school. With her busy schedule, she rarely has time for intimate encounters with others. Using Snoozy allows her to have a lifelike friend to cuddle with when she needs some company. He can also be used as a method for stress relief. 

core circuit

final video

Smuggy: The sleeping sloth

Having just received the diaphragm motor pumps, i'm in the process of working on Smuggy's respiratory system. Although they are very lightweight and small, I'm a bit concerned about the pressure of the air being pushed into Smuggy's lung, which is a latex glove.  I'll need a material that stretches, causing a natural deflation when a release valve is opened.  However, it might be harder to inflate with the pressure values i'm currently getting from the motor. So far I have the basic circuit configured, and the main portion of Sluggy's body sewn. 

Toy Implementation: the respiratory system.

I've been looking into different methods to get my toy's respiratory system working, and it looks like i can create it without using an aquarium pump.  I've found a few different diaphram pumps that are small, low voltage, relative inexpensive, and claim to be quiet. I'm also looking into harvesting peristaltic pumps from basic inkjet printers, but am unsure about the pressure they can generate. My back up plan would be to develop a small bellows system that contracts and expands via a gear motor. 

Smuggles: The breathing sloth.

Smuggles is a furry friend that latches onto you with his velcro arms. While he's attatched, Smuggles breathing patterns can be felt by the user.  You can also squeeze his paws to make him talk.  

Roles:

Amanda is a 9 year old girl who's troubled by riding in the car.  She usually is comforted by one of her parents or siblings, but when it's just she and her mom riding in the car, she'll get scared. Smuggles can help calm her down during those lonely rides.

Erin is a 24 year old female currently attending grad school.  With her busy schedule, she rarely has time for intimate encounters with others.  Using smuggles allows her to have a lifelike friend to cuddle with when she needs some company. 

Getting "familiar" with Mr. Panda

Toy made by FurReal 

Play-DOH Synthesizer

Human-Playdough interface for music creation. The playdough is manipulated in a square box, with an IR sensor positioned at x and y coordinates. By altering the position and shape of the playdough, different tonal values are output. The switches and potentiometers change the octave and tempo. 

I'm still programming different variations of the interface, so right now I just have 1 pot and the ir sensors functioning. I was attempting to integrate a drum sequencer into the same interface (my progress so far is in the attached code file). To get started with arduino drum synthesis, check out this excellent blog: http://little-scale.blogspot.com/search/label/arduino%20sound.

  

 

Arduino Code  

Arduino Audio and You

To recap my presentation on Arduino audio and speakers:

-A speaker consists of a magnet and an electromagnet. The electromagnet oscillates polarity based on fluctuations in the voltage values it receives

-Voltage is converted into vibrations within the speaker

- Audio is output via PWM, which results in a Square Wave.

-Shorter delays in a PWM cycle result in a higher frequency (higher pitch) sound.

-The amount of times this PWM cycle is run determines the duration (sustain) of a pitch.

Example Code:

1. Play the star wars theme song using coded tone values 

Based on the "PlayMelody" ardunio example

Download Ex1 

2. Control the pitch and duration of an octave sequence separately with 2 variable resistors. 

Based on the "Freqout" arduino example

Download Ex2 

3. Play a tonal range with a variable resistor

Based on the "PlayMelody" ardunio example

Download Ex3 

GlowUs - The Lamp with Life

Final Prototype 

the sales sheet

final arduino code:

Implementation, Look and Feel, Roles

User 1:
Age 25 – 35. Bob the lawyer has a frantic schedule.  He lives in an Manhattan, enjoys minimalist decorations in his apartment, as well as organically designed furnishings.  He also enjoys working out, hiking, and reading, although rarely has time to indulge in any of these pleasures.  The FlyAway lamp would be ideal for Jeffery because his lifestyle is conducive to stress. The lamp creates an engaging way for him to deal with it through simple, short breathing exercises.   The lights inside, resembling fireflies, serve as a guide for meditation. Adding an ambient light to his apartment could also create a more relaxing environment. 

User 2:
Age 4 – 10. Suzy is a 8 -year-old elementary school student.  She loves insects, and playing outdoors.  She also has extremely high amounts of energy.  So much that sometimes she can’t even get to sleep! Suzy would enjoy the FlyAway lamp because it would bring her favorite insect (the firefly) into her room whenever she pleases.  The lamp would provide her with a nightlight, as well as some friends to keep her company when she gets lonely or scared at night.