Making Toys 5

Cedric the Catertainer!

Cedric The Catertainer: A Taunting Cat Toy

Do your cats get bored with their toys after only a few minutes? Do they miss you when you aren't at home? Cedric the Catertainer is the new cat toy for the lonely, bored, and fickle cat. He demands to be played with. If your cat hasn't been playing with him for a while he will start to taunt your cat, making fun and intriguing sounds. If your cat gets too close, Cedric will start to shake in fear and his eyes will light up. Add a little catnip to his fur and your cat will go crazy. Best. Cat Toy. Ever.

Catertainer Cat Test from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.

Catertainer: Behind the Scenes

The circuit inside the Catertainer has been miniaturized. Check it out!

It doesn't get much more compact than that. There's a switch to turn the bad boy on, and a button the side of the container to trigger the sound clips for exhibition purposes. Next step... fur!

Read below for the final code

Catertainer Circuit + Code

The code finally works!

The Catertainer has 10 taunts, and every minute, if it isn't played with, it will say one of the taunts.

Here is an example of one of the taunts.

Catertainer Circuit from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.

I finally got the Wee from Sparkfun, so I'll be transferring the whole circuit to the new (much smaller) circuit, soon.

fun!

Wee!

The Wee I ordered from Sparkfun just came in, and it is ridiculously small.

I just had to take a picture of it for y'all

Careful you don't eat it!

Arduino Trick: Treating Digital like Analog

In response to Katrina's great tip about the multiplexer I thought I would pass this little trick on as well.

With only a few simple lines of code you too can use your digital inputs to read analog data. Below is the function. Just copy and paste the code before your void loop(), then call it with digiAnalog(pin). It's pretty easy. Continue reading to see the code:

Production Timeline

Below is a timeline for the Catertainer production schedule. Certain objectives need to be completed by specific days in order to move forward, and this will help to solidify the day-to-day goals.

11.18 //

Do initial setup. I need to get all of the components working together fairly well. This includes the lights, sound, proximity sensor, and (if possible) motion-sensor and small vibrating motor. The toy does not need to be housed in anything, but I should spend this whole preliminary construction week really getting the parts to work well together.

12.02 //

The second week will involve really getting the circuit as compact as possible. I will need to research smaller components and try to build the circuit off of the breadboard. This will be one of the most crucial parts of the construction, so I should really take two weeks I have to make sure it is done right.

12.09 //

Pre-final due. All of the sensors need to be working, and I should have an idea of what the final shape and components will be. I will want to experiment on a few feline test subjects to see if they are sufficiently "catertained."

11.16 //

Final construction due. This last week should be spent solely on improving on the overall design and trouble-shooting / refining the code to make the toy work as well as possible. Get some good documentation!

Catertainer Video

Catertainer from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.

Making The Windbond Sing!

Just wave you hand in the air!

Continue reading to see the code.

3 LED IR Setup

3 LED IR Setup from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.

I had some problems earlier with light flickering, but I solved this by averaging the input from the IR sensor and smoothing out the results. Works great now.

MidTerm Prototypes

ChatBot Voice-Replacement Surgery

I got this robot a few months ago because I thought he was cool. He is named ChatBot, except his chat functionality doesn't work. You are supposed to be able to record on his little tape face and he'll play it back to you. Instead he just goes forward and turns (He can't go backwards. Poor chatbot). This project would help give ChatBot back his voice, and also, as a bonus, it will let him warn you about his proximity to objects that might hurt him (like walls).

Taunting Cat Toy

My cats like cat toys. They are also feisty and tend to think they are (every pun intended) the cat's pajamas. I propose a cat toy that will a) entertain them and b) put them in their place. I like the idea of the cat toy sensing motion, and, if nothing has come close to it recently, it will go through one of its 10 pre-recorded taunts. Only after the cat approaches it will it tone down the insults. I could also include a motion sensor that could do something when it was rolled. Fun!

Facebook Adicts

Are you tired of being tied to Facebook? Well how's about a little sensor that pulls data from your facebook account and tells you "There's no need to check your account now," whenever you get close to your computer? Could be useful.

IR Sensor Touch Lamp

Video coming soon.

Uses the same code as the earlier iteration of the hacked touch lamp.

Hacked Touch Lamp

Hacked Touch Lamp from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.

Here's the code, y'all!

 

int analogPin = 0;     // potentiometer wiper (middle terminal) connected to analog pin 3
                                     // outside leads to ground and +5V
int yVal = 0;   
int gVal = 0;
int rVal = 0;

int val = 0;
int ledPin = 13;
int yLed = 11;
int gLed = 10;
int rLed = 9;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);          //  setup serial
  pinMode(yLed, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  val = analogRead(analogPin);    // read the input pin
  yVal = min(val, 255);
  gVal = max(256, (min(val, 511)));
  rVal = max(512, (min(val, 756)));

  analogWrite(yLed, yVal);
  analogWrite(gLed, gVal);
  analogWrite(rLed, rVal);
   
}

Cookie Monster Goes to Pieces

Wireless Boy

Hi. My name is Matt. I am second year MFA student here at Parsons the New School for Design, focusing on electronic music and physical computing. Nice to meet you.

How's abut we talk about toys?

My favourite childhood toys were those little bricks of imagination, Legos. In my opinion, they are the apex of toys: fun, simple, hard to break, and begging to turn little children into makers.

During this class I hope to build something as interesting as the amazing 3 story haunted house I built when I was 9. It may not have as many trap doors and secret passageways, but hopefully it will be a whole lot of fun.