The creators of the Fuzzy Feeling.

Fuzzy Feeling

Project team member(s): Don Le, Matt Hernandez

Finals were creeping up. We all needed something to relieve some stress. And then we came up with the Fuzzy Feeling. Originally, it was supposed to be a hand massager, but throughout the project we found flaws after the device had been built. The biggest out of them was that the motor was unable to generate the torque to overcome the hand pressing on the pleasure giving plate. Thus, given the budget we had, a vibration motor would have been best. Even so, the device provided pleasure we sought for by tickling the hand, rather than massaging it. The overall project was a success.

Introduction

Have you ever experienced the feeling of getting your hands tickled to get a fuzzy feeling? Before this project, we never had. And now, we present to you, the Fuzzy Feeling (patent pending). Using modern haptics science and technology, you can determine how much you want your hands to get rubbed via force sensing resistors. It's so much easier to use rather than having to put up with switches and multiple buttons.

Background

There is no other device like it, mostly because we attempted to make a hand massager and didn't realize a vibrating motor would be better for massaging (which is what other devices on the market use) than a spinning studded plate. I guess you can consider this an invention!

Design

Hardware design

The design is straightforward. The two horizontal platforms were sawed to be large enough to accommodate a hand as shown in a picture. The wooden blocks supporting these platforms are only just tall enough for the motor (glued to a mount) and the circuit board to fit and create the perfect height for the spinning plate to rest upon. Scattered over the plate are wooden balls cut in half and glued onto the plate that are what your palm makes contact with. Surrounding the spinning plate is the foam pad that serves as the place to let your hand rest as the device sends fuzzies down your body. Lastly, there is the FSR, which is positioned to where your middle finger can press and directly determine how fast you want the motor to spin.

The device and its glory.

Software design

The code is really simple. The FSR simply gathers the force input from the finger and plugs it into the formula that tells the motor how much torque to generate that "Fuzzy Feeling".

Functionality

The "Fuzzy Feeling" device is designed to tickle the palm of the user's hand in a pleasurable and soothing way. All the user needs to do is simply apply a force to the FSR sensor with their finger in order to get the directly proportional desired torque output of the motor. With a gentle touch of the finger, the motor will apply a small duty value to produce a consequently small torque. In this situation, the rotating plate with wooden hemispheres would generate a rotation capable of tenderly soothing the palm, and the soul. Should the user apply a large force to the FSR, the motor's torque output will increase proportionally. In this situation, the user would witness rapid rotation of the wooden hemispheres, and fully experience the "Fuzzy Feeling" in all its glory.

The device in action.

After viewing the demonstrations, we're confident that our only major flaw was overestimating the motor's torque capability. If the user applies too much downward force to the rotating plate, the motor won't be able to overcome the frictional force generated by the user's hand, and the plate won't be able to move despite any force applied to the FSR. A more powerful motor would have been able to output a torque capable of overcoming this frictional force, consequently allowing the plate to rotate regardless of the user's hand weight.

How it's used:

Acknowledgements

Big thanks to Allison and Tania! Without them we wouldn't have learned about the magic of Haptics.

Files

INO Code within a ZIP file: Attach:Massage.zip

Materials Used:

1. maxon A-max motor (~$160)
2. Hapkit board (~$13)
3. Scrap wooden boards and foam (~$5)
4. Wooden Hemispheres (~$5 for a bag of 10)