University of British Columbia

Smart Fur

The smart fur prototype is a new type of low-cost, low-tech touch sensor built with conductive fur. Conductive threads are sewn into faux animal-like fur, creating a weak circuit. When someone touches the fur, the hand motion changes the resistance in the circuit, which we analyze over time to recognize emotional touch gestures. The idea for the physical design of the sensor was inspired by Hannah Perner-Wilson's brilliant conductive thread stroke sensor. My Master's thesis has more details.

This research was done as part of the Haptic Creature project, in collaboration with Dr. Karon MacLean at the University of British Columbia's SPIN lab. See the New York times Magazine coverage for more.

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Smart Fur sensor

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Sensor circuitry

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Stitching detail

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Circuit diagram and thread pattern design

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Sample smart fur sensor data for different gesture types

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Distributions of features for different gesture types

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Presenting the smart fur sensor at Haptics Symposium, March 2012

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Demo of fur responding to a breath