ElectroPlush – Final Project
For my final project, I wanted to explore the realm of plush toys and its effect on adults, I was curious to see if that effect could be duplicated on children. I was inspired by the uncanny valley, which is a hypothesis in the field of human aesthetics which holds that when human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. I decided to recreate the typical teddy bear plush toy and hack it with some circuitry in order to make it “wake up” when its belly is touched. ElectroPlush uses capacitive sensing on its belly, LEDs on its eyes, servo motors in its head, and an MP3 shield for sound. It is all connected together and programmed through two Arduinos, both embedded inside the teddy bear.