[其它] PINOKY: A Ring That Animates Your Plush Toys

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发表于 2012-1-13 15:01:22 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

1. Introduction

PINOKY is a wireless ring-like device that can be externally

attached to any plush toy as an accessory that animates the toy,

such as by moving its limbs. A user is thus able to instantly

convert any plush toy into a soft robot. The user can control the

toy remotely or input the movement desired by moving the plush

toy and having the data recorded and played back. Unlike other

methods for animating plush toys, PINOKY is non-intrusive, so

alterations to the toy are not required.

2. The PINOKY System

The PINOKY system (Figure 2) consists of a microcontroller

(Arduino Pro Mini), a pair of DC servomotors, a pair of

photoreflectors (photosensor, IR LED), a wireless module (XBee

Series 1), and a Li-Po battery. Each servomotor is in contact with

the surface of the plush toy through an arm, and causes the area in

contact to bend by pushing on the covering. The photoreflectors

are used to measure the angle at which the joint is bent. A pair of

strong magnets holds PINOKY in position, enabling the user to

attach and remove it without using special tools. The user is also

able to synchronize the motors of multiple PINOKYs using

ZigBee communication. The case is made of laser-cut acrylic and

covered with felt to give it a look and feel similar to that of a plush

toy (Figure 1 center).

Actuation. The ring-type actuator we developed can be attached

and removed from any plush toy. Our prototype actuator creates

joint movement using two servomotors. Each is fitted with an arm

that displaces the surface of the toy. The joint is bent by pushing

on the cover (Figure 2). By changing the servomotor speed and

rotation angle, we can dynamically control the speed and joint

angle of the plush toy. The arms are positioned so that they do not

extend beyond the device. For an 8.5 cm plush toy limb, the joint

angle range is −50° < θ < 50°.

Sensing. To measure the joint angle, we use a pair of

photoreflectors, which are generally used to measure the distance

to objects. As shown in Figure 4, they are embedded in the device

at either end of the ring, and measure the distance to the surface of

the toy. When the joint bends, one of the sensors becomes closer

to the surface. We conducted an experiment to investigate the

relationship between the change in the joint angle and the

photoreflective properties of the sensors (Figure 3). The limb

length was 8.5 cm, and the limb was bent from −50 degrees to 50°

by hand at intervals of 2°. The results are shown in Figure 3; the

red line shows the photovoltaic voltage when a hand was covering

the sensor. As shown in the figure, the range of joint angle that the

system can measure is θ < −31.2°, 34.2° < θ.