Gerry the Cat Box
For my physical computing final project, I made an interactive cat-shaped box for use in events like Discover Berry.
I made this project because I wanted the lab to have a student-made example of work that's done in the lab. I love the lab and what we do in the creative technologies program, and I want other people to have good examples of what we do in case they might be interested in stuff like this.
Gerry is an interactive, friend-shaped box made to remind users of a cat. The NeoPixel matrices have eye animations that look in the direction that one is standing closer on, which is determined by ultrasonic range finders. He has a capacitive touch sensor on his head that controls a servo, so when one "pets" him, his tail wiggles around. He also has 3D printed ears that I designed in fusion 360, and his whiskers are made of 3D printer filament.
This project is meaningful to me because the lab and creative tech mean a lot to me, and I'm very excited about getting people interested in it. There could be people like me who would love the things that we do in the lab, but are scared because they don't know anything about it and are inexperienced. I think it would be helpful to have student-made projects available for display so that people could see the sort of things that they themselves would be able to create.
Gerry: The Making Of
To make Gerry, I started with a sketch inspired by several projects I saw on the internet. I then worked on wiring up the various components and making sure the eye animations were in working order. Next I learned how to use capacitive touch, since I had never used it before and I wasn't sure how to use it. I finally cut out the final box from a sheet of wood, painted it black, and assembled everything into the box.
Link to Github file
https://github.com/malynn02/physCompFinal/blob/main/finalProject.ino
