ComfortCat
ComfortCat is a team of 6 students working to design a robotic anxiety support cat for people who may benefit from an emotional support animal but are unable to care for one. As a founding member of the team, I have been involved in every step of the process from setting system requirements to mechanical and aesthetic design and user testing.
The main mechanisms in the robot are the body, which houses the electronics and serves as the attachment point for the other mechanisms, an articulated tail, four articulated legs, and the head. The exterior of the cat is wrapped in a soft fur, and the top side of the body is formed from flexible plastic padded with foam to give it a more realistic feel. Currently, the cat is capable of supporting itself in three positions: laying down, sitting up, and standing, and can move between them independently. The neck joint has two axis of motion: rotational, so the cat can turn its head side to side, and up and down in a nodding motion. To display emotion, the robot utilizes a vibration motor to purr, as well as two articulated ears on the head, which can rotate, and the articulated tail which can curl and swish from side to side. The tail is an under articulated mechanism consisting of a series of vertebrae-like linkages articulated via two strings on either side attached to a single micro servo.
To interact with its environment, the robot utilizes a wide array of sensors. Pressure sensors in the head and back allow it to sense when the user is petting it, which triggers the purring. A camera located on a collar around its neck allows it to detect when a user is nearby, and the facial recognition software allows it to recognize people who interact with it regularly. A microphone array also allows it to pick up sounds in the environment and alert to certain phrases such as its name or simple commands. To enable the emotional support features, the cat connects to a wristband with biometric sensors. The primary sensors we are using to detect physiological symptoms of anxiety are a heart rate sensor and a galvanic skin response sensor. The data from these sensors are sent to the processor on board the cat, where baseline values for a specific user can be established. When a large, sudden spike in the values occurs, this can signal a spike in anxiety for the user, which the cat will respond to by alerting towards the user, sitting up, and displaying behavior that appears to ask for pets or cuddles.