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Outcome

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Inspiration

New parents have to go to work leaving their young babies at home. While they are away, a parent is unable to interact and play with the baby, making them feel like they are missing many memorable moments.

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Idea

The Hippo soft toys allow parents to play with their young child remotely by mimicking the shake it experiences on one soft toy onto the other identical soft toy. With a combination of light and haptic actions, it allows the parent and the child to interact in playful ways.

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Simple. Intimate. Meaningful.

The Hippo offers a playful tactile connect between parent and child through simple objects that trigger joy in the parent and curiosity in the child.

Here's how Hippo was envisioned:

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Young baby and dad barely get to spend time together

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But with Hippo, dad at work can shake on one end and initiate curiosity and play with the baby

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When the baby plays with the Hipp at home, dad gets to know too and they both can play.

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Hippo provides a simple playful interaction for parent and child who can not spend enough much time together.

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Circuit inside Hippo

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Code behind Hippo

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//http://projectlab.engphys.ubc.ca/coursearchive/apsc150-electronics-2013/accelerometer-adxl335-on-gy-61-breakout-board/
//http://bildr.org/2011/04/sensing-orientation-with-the-adxl335-arduino/
//A gyro is great at measuring rotation, but has no understanding of orientation.
//An accelerometer is good at determining orientation, but has no ability to keep track during rotation.
#include "math.h"
//Analog read pins
const int xPin = A0;
const int yPin = A1;
const int zPin = A2;
/////////servo stuff/////////
int monitorlight = D7;  //Light for testing
const int pwr_off = 0;  //Sets analog signal to 0
int servoPin = D3;
Servo myServo;
int servoPos = 0;
int pos1= 90;
int pos2 = 50;
int quickness = 25;
//////Shake Variables//////////
int shake_type = 1;
int shake_iterations = 5;
int count = 0;
int thres_count = 2;
int last_zaverage = 2000;
int thres_shake = 3;
bool shake = FALSE;
bool event_being_pub = FALSE;
//The minimum and maximum values that came from
//the accelerometer while standing still
//You very well may need to change these
int minVal = 0;
int maxVal = 10000;
//to hold the caculated values
double x;
double y;
double z;
//variables for low pass filter
const int numReadings = 100;
int readIndex = 0;
int xtotal = 0;
int xaverage = 0;
int xreadings[numReadings];
int ytotal = 0;
int yaverage = 0;
int yreadings[numReadings];
int ztotal = 0;
int zaverage = 0;
int zreadings[numReadings];
void setup(){
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Particle.variable("window", &numReadings, INT);
  Particle.variable("count", &count, INT);
  Particle.variable("pos1", &pos1, INT);
  Particle.variable("pos2", &pos2, INT);
  Particle.variable("quickness", &quickness, INT);
  Particle.function("window size", window_size);
  Particle.subscribe("bz/new_shake",event_driven);
  pinMode(D7, OUTPUT);
  for (int thisReading = 0; thisReading < numReadings; thisReading++)
  {
      xreadings[thisReading] = 0;
      yreadings[thisReading] = 0;
      zreadings[thisReading] = 0;
  }
  pinMode(monitorlight, OUTPUT);  //The light on the photon is set up for testing
  myServo.attach( servoPin );
  //Register our Particle to control the servo
    Particle.function("servo", servoControl);
    // Keep a cloud variable for the current position
   Particle.variable(  "servoPos" , &servoPos , INT );
   Particle.function(  "pos1", position1);
   Particle.function(  "pos2", position2);
   Particle.function(  "quickness", quick);
   /*Particle.function("shake_iterations", shake_iterate);
   Particle.function("shake_type", shaking_type);*/
  // myServo.write(pos1);
}
void loop(){
  //initialize the arrays for the rolling average that will serve as allow pass filter
  //read the analog values from the accelerometer
  int xRead = analogRead(xPin);
  int yRead = analogRead(yPin);
  int zRead = analogRead(zPin);
        // subtract the last reading:
      xtotal = xtotal - xreadings[readIndex];
      ytotal = ytotal - yreadings[readIndex];
      ztotal = ztotal - zreadings[readIndex];
      // read from the sensor:
      xreadings[readIndex] = analogRead(xPin);
      yreadings[readIndex] = analogRead(yPin);
      zreadings[readIndex] = analogRead(zPin);
      // add the reading to the total:
      xtotal = xtotal + xreadings[readIndex];
      ytotal = ytotal + yreadings[readIndex];
      ztotal = ztotal + zreadings[readIndex];
      // advance to the next position in the array:
      readIndex = readIndex + 1;
      // if we're at the end of the array...
      if (readIndex >= numReadings) {
      // ...wrap around to the beginning:
      readIndex = 0;
      }
      // calculate the average:
      xaverage = xtotal / numReadings;
      yaverage = ytotal / numReadings;
      zaverage = ztotal / numReadings;
      // send it to the computer as ASCII digit
      //output reading to serial connection
      send_info_to_serial(xRead, xaverage, yRead, yaverage, zRead, zaverage);
  delay(1);//just here to slow down the serial output - Easier to read
  //save filtered signal to check for delta
  count++;
  if (count == thres_count)
  { last_zaverage = zaverage;
    count = 0;
  }
  //check for change in accelerometer
  if ((abs(zaverage-last_zaverage) > thres_shake) && (millis() > 10000))
    shake = TRUE;
  //This triggers the hippo_shake
  if (shake == TRUE)
  {
    hippo_shake(shake_type, shake_iterations);
    /*if (event_being_pub == FALSE)
    {*/
    /*Particle.publish("bz/dad_play", "1");
    event_being_pub = TRUE;
    delay(6000);*/
    /*}*/
  }
}
////////////////////Functions/////////////////
int window_size( String speed ) //must return type int, and take an argument type string
{
  int window_convert = speed.toInt();
  int thres_shake = constrain(window_convert,0,600);
  return 1;
}
void hippo_shake(int shake_type, int shake_iterations)
  {
    for (int p=1; p< shake_iterations; p++)
    {
      myServo.write(pos1);
      delay(quickness);
      myServo.write(pos2);
      delay(quickness);
      shake = FALSE;
    }
  }
void event_driven(const char *event, const char *data)
{
  String hello = data;
  int cmd_speed = hello.toInt();
}
void send_info_to_serial(int xRead, int xaverage, int yRead, int yaverage, int zRead, int zaverage)
{
  Serial.print(" ");
  Serial.print("x: ");
  Serial.print(xRead);
  Serial.print(" ");
  Serial.print(xaverage);
  Serial.print(" | y: ");
  Serial.print(yRead);
  Serial.print(" ");
  Serial.print(yaverage);
  Serial.print(" | z: ");
  Serial.print(zRead);
  Serial.print(" ");
  Serial.println(zaverage);
}
int servoControl(String command)
{
    // Convert
   int newPos = command.toInt();
   // Make sure it is in the right range
   // And set the position
   servoPos = constrain( newPos, 0 , 180);
   // Set the servo
   myServo.write( servoPos );
   // done
   return 1;
}
/////////////////variable changes for tuning/////////////////
int position1(String command)
{    // Convert
   int newPos1 = command.toInt();
   // Make sure it is in the right range
   // And set the position
   pos1 = constrain( newPos1, 0 , 180);
   return 1;
}
int position2(String command)
{    // Convert
   int newPos2 = command.toInt();
   // Make sure it is in the right range
   // And set the position
   pos2 = constrain( newPos2, 0 , 180);
   return 1;
}
int quick(String command)
{    // Convert
   quickness = command.toInt();
   return 1;
}
int shake_iterate(String command)
{    // Convert
   shake_iterations = command.toInt();
   return 1;
}
int shaking_type(String command)
{    // Convert
   shake_type = command.toInt();
   return 1;
}

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Simple. Intimate. Meaningful.

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Circuit inside Hippo

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Code behind Hippo

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