Description

Pillobot is a black felt pillow with small flaps and a L.E.D emoticon-style face that can help you face loneliness and depression. Pillobot is entirely made by hand and its round shape as well as soft fabric makes it highly comfortable for hugging.

The purpose of this project is to bring people closer by using modern technologies like cellphones and emails, which often can seem cold and insensible. Users can send a message to the pillow, that is connected to the internet, and make it change its facial expressions. This way people can use a physical object as well as visual expressions to make their feelings come across to someone else. But the project doesn't stop there; once a message is received by the pillow, someone can hug it and send a message (saying "HUG") back to the previous sender.

Also, because Pillobot uses email technologies as an input, it is accessible to everyone worldwide. This means that you can transmit messages to others that are far away and send them "hugs" without paying tremendous amounts on phone bills.

Lastly, Pillobot was not designed to replace emails or phone calls; it was made to accompany these technologies and give them a more human feel. By giving this pillow to others, I hope to make them smile and make them feel loved. It is also very therapeutic to hug something soft when feeling down.

How it works

It all starts with an email or an SMS is sent to the GMAIL address of the pillow. A PHP code then parses the most recent message using IMAP and PEAR. It then finds keywords in the message and takes the address of the sender. Every 5 seconds, the PHP page generates a new XML code with up to date information that Processing can then access and read. Processing then forwards the keyword to Arduino, which then chooses what emotions it should reflect on the pillow.

If the pillow is hugged, a contact between two pieces of aluminium foil is made (soft switch). Arduino constantly updates Processing with the state of the soft switch, and if it senses that it is being hugged (a counter was also implemented to prohibit "false zeros" and accidents) then it tells processing to load a PHP page with the code to send emails. This is where the address from earlier is useful, as I used GET_$ commands to send the message to the right person. For example, if the pillow is hugged and the code is triggered, Processing will take the address it last retrieved (which is saved in a variable) and load the PHP page like so: http://www.website.com/page.php?=5141234567@koodomobile.com. The PHP page then takes the address from the navigation bar and sends the hug message to the receiver.

This project as a prototype

My first design for this project was very amateur, but thankfully, I had the opportunity to remake the cushion.

So far, Pillobot can only show a very limited array of emotions: smiling, laughing, in love, and "hug me". With a bigger matrix of L.E.Ds, more keywords could be identified and many more emotions could be transmitted.

Also, if I had had more time to look for fabrics, I would have opted to make Pillobot with sustainable fabrics. In the future, I will try harder so that this practice can be reflected in all of my designs.

Materials

- Felt
- Polyester lining
- Soft foam
- Scissors
- Electrical tape
- Electrical wires
- Arduino
- Blue and pink bright L.E.Ds
- Needles and thread
- Aluminium foil
- "Tutule" (fabric for tutus)
- Thin cardboard
- Hot glue gun

Other

- PHP
- Arduino
- Processing
- Gmail