Finalized Concept:
For my final project, I decided to stick with the idea of a plushy that can react to your hugs. Designed to spread positivity and happiness for everyone especially during finals season, I want the P5 to output the plushy’s “mood scale” based on the tightness (pressure) of the hug.
The repeated idea:
Sometimes, all we need is a long hug to help us recover from a long day. So, why not be able to hug a responsive cute fuzzy plushy?
Although it doesn’t have a name yet, this plushy with a pressure sensor will be able to activate various designs on the P5 screen when the user hugs it. Ideally it will output randomized sounds for each hug, such as “That made my day!” “Aww thanks!” “Cozy!” Etc.. no matter the tightness of the hug. I will also try to create a digitally animated version of it, where it can have 4 different facial expressions as well as 4 different mood settings and backgrounds. These will range from a little sad to very happy. In the end, I just want to create something that will make users feel loved and appreciated, even if it’s just from a little plushy
D&D of Arduino:
For the design of the Arduino, the project’s physical aspects consist of the plushy being able to detect the user’s inputs so that it can send an output through its speaker and P5. Using either a pressure sensor or a flex sensor, depending on which one better suits the plushy, it will be placed inside of the plushy so it can take in the hug and measure the intensity of the hug. This hug intensity data will be sent to Arduino, which will output randomized sound effects through the piezo buzzer. The pressure data will also be sent to P5.js through the “handshake” of serial communication between Arduino and P5.js, which will be how all of the digital magic appears.
D&D of P5:
As for the P5 side of things, the P5’s input would be the received pressure data from Arduino. There will be 3 different levels of pressure values that the data can reach, which will be mapped to different outputs depending on which of the three pressure levels that user’s hug reaches. This would then output the digital plushy’s various expressions and backgrounds. The P5 screen would output the visuals to match the intensity of the user’s hug, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to make the differences pretty drastic so the user can get the idea that a tighter hug will output different visual feedback