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Dutch tickle machine..
- Thread starter venray
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EcEu
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that's a very good read Ray, and i like how non weird they described how tickling was with them.
For those who did not want to click the link:
Dept. of Silly Technology
What the Dutch do for fun
By Leigh Anderson Posted 11.03.2003 at 1:42 pm
Not enough giggles in your life? A team of Dutch artists might have the answer to your problem: A tickle machine. A machine made from a nylon-covered pinball operated via a computer-controlled suite of servos, motors and sensors whose entire raison d'tre is to tickle you -- to tickle you steadily and relentlessly, with more single-minded tickle focus than even the most dedicated older brother. The machine is the creation of Erwin Driessens and Maria Verstappen, artist-inventors who really like to be tickled. The partners found that they were squabbling a little too often over whose turn it was to tickle whom. "All the time we say to each other, 'No, you have to tickle me,' and when the other one stops you feel like, 'Oh, don't stop, go on,'" says Verstappen. "You don't want to ask another person to do something that he doesn't like, that's only for your pleasure, so that made us think of building a robot to tickle us." Indeed, the robot tickler will never tire of tickling you. It will tickle you until you wet your pants.
It works like this: The pinball, draped with a soft nylon fringe, is suspended from the ceiling by four nearly invisible wires. The wires, which are constantly winding or unwinding, are connected to a stepper-motor; the motor tells a computer exactly how much the wires are wound or unwound and therefore where the pinball is in space. You, the ticklee, lie face down on a bed, and the pinball lowers itself until it collides (gently) with your back. When the wires lose tension, the computer plots a point on a 3-D graph. By lightly bumping against your body, the robot gradually learns your shape and makes a 3-D image on the monitor. As it learns, the pinball begins to hover an inch or two above you, letting the nylon fringe brush your skin. And -- voilà! -- you're tickled.
To experience the tickle machine for myself, I've come to the Eyebeam
art gallery, which hosts rotating technology-based art exhibitions in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. The tickler, which looks like a white nylon jellyfish gliding magically through space, has a simultaneously benign and sinister appearance, like the killer bunny in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When activated, it rises straight up into the air and then makes a beeline for the bed. Lying there, I giggle just in anticipation and fight the urge to squirm. The jellyfish makes its first experimental bump against my back and then rears up, skittering slightly to the side to lower itself and bump again. Slowly learning the shape of my back and arms, it then travels north, tickling as it goes, and gets bogged down in my long hair. There it wanders around in confusion, trapped in a hair quagmire, until I roll away and off the
side of the bed.
And it does tickle. It feels like someone lightly brushing a feather over your skin, pleasant and soothing, though a little, well, robotic. All in all, it's an interesting experience, but the Tickle Salon, as Driessens and Verstappen are calling the installation, is not something I'd want to set up in a corner of my living room. They're not planning to market the tickler anyway, although they've considered it. "It was created for our own use," says Verstappen. "And we are artists, not business people." So what's next for the duo? A robot to cook dinner? They glance at each other and laugh. "We fight about that too," she says. "We take turns. So yeah, maybe."
For those who did not want to click the link:
Dept. of Silly Technology
What the Dutch do for fun
By Leigh Anderson Posted 11.03.2003 at 1:42 pm
Not enough giggles in your life? A team of Dutch artists might have the answer to your problem: A tickle machine. A machine made from a nylon-covered pinball operated via a computer-controlled suite of servos, motors and sensors whose entire raison d'tre is to tickle you -- to tickle you steadily and relentlessly, with more single-minded tickle focus than even the most dedicated older brother. The machine is the creation of Erwin Driessens and Maria Verstappen, artist-inventors who really like to be tickled. The partners found that they were squabbling a little too often over whose turn it was to tickle whom. "All the time we say to each other, 'No, you have to tickle me,' and when the other one stops you feel like, 'Oh, don't stop, go on,'" says Verstappen. "You don't want to ask another person to do something that he doesn't like, that's only for your pleasure, so that made us think of building a robot to tickle us." Indeed, the robot tickler will never tire of tickling you. It will tickle you until you wet your pants.
It works like this: The pinball, draped with a soft nylon fringe, is suspended from the ceiling by four nearly invisible wires. The wires, which are constantly winding or unwinding, are connected to a stepper-motor; the motor tells a computer exactly how much the wires are wound or unwound and therefore where the pinball is in space. You, the ticklee, lie face down on a bed, and the pinball lowers itself until it collides (gently) with your back. When the wires lose tension, the computer plots a point on a 3-D graph. By lightly bumping against your body, the robot gradually learns your shape and makes a 3-D image on the monitor. As it learns, the pinball begins to hover an inch or two above you, letting the nylon fringe brush your skin. And -- voilà! -- you're tickled.
To experience the tickle machine for myself, I've come to the Eyebeam
art gallery, which hosts rotating technology-based art exhibitions in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. The tickler, which looks like a white nylon jellyfish gliding magically through space, has a simultaneously benign and sinister appearance, like the killer bunny in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When activated, it rises straight up into the air and then makes a beeline for the bed. Lying there, I giggle just in anticipation and fight the urge to squirm. The jellyfish makes its first experimental bump against my back and then rears up, skittering slightly to the side to lower itself and bump again. Slowly learning the shape of my back and arms, it then travels north, tickling as it goes, and gets bogged down in my long hair. There it wanders around in confusion, trapped in a hair quagmire, until I roll away and off the
side of the bed.
And it does tickle. It feels like someone lightly brushing a feather over your skin, pleasant and soothing, though a little, well, robotic. All in all, it's an interesting experience, but the Tickle Salon, as Driessens and Verstappen are calling the installation, is not something I'd want to set up in a corner of my living room. They're not planning to market the tickler anyway, although they've considered it. "It was created for our own use," says Verstappen. "And we are artists, not business people." So what's next for the duo? A robot to cook dinner? They glance at each other and laugh. "We fight about that too," she says. "We take turns. So yeah, maybe."
Not Like That Fake Tickling Machine in San Diego
Ray, this looks for real. Not like the one that was used by that lady who was working on her PhD at UCSD in San Diego, CA. She had one of her female assistants sit inside this "tickle" machine to tickle the feet of the test subject (usually a UCSD student) for her thesis of whether tickling was a social phenomenom or a singular one.
Ray, this looks for real. Not like the one that was used by that lady who was working on her PhD at UCSD in San Diego, CA. She had one of her female assistants sit inside this "tickle" machine to tickle the feet of the test subject (usually a UCSD student) for her thesis of whether tickling was a social phenomenom or a singular one.
deadlywiffeathr
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Department of "silly technology", how dare they. This is an invention of sheer brilliance!! 😛
I actually discovered this a while back when i was first exploring the world of tickle fetishism. there was a clip of a man demonstrating how it worked, it actually looks like it would tickle a great deal. if i find the link again i will post it for all to see! 🙂
cant believe they dont want to market it though, they would make a truckload of cash!
I actually discovered this a while back when i was first exploring the world of tickle fetishism. there was a clip of a man demonstrating how it worked, it actually looks like it would tickle a great deal. if i find the link again i will post it for all to see! 🙂
cant believe they dont want to market it though, they would make a truckload of cash!
deadlywiffeathr
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found it 😀.... the clip throws in a few other tickle devices aswell
http://www.xs4all.nl/~notnot/TickleSalon/salon_youtube.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~notnot/TickleSalon/salon_youtube.html
This has been posted to the forum before. It's really more an exercise in robotics than a true tickling machine.
See, it works by mapping the subject's body and then lowering the "tickler" until it's just close enough to the mapped locations. This means that
- The subject can't move. At all. Moving throws off the map.
- It works only on bare skin.
- It works only on people for whom a light touch is good. It can't knead or scratch.
- It has no sensitivity: it can't tell when a particular spot is especially effective and focus there.
- It can't substantially affect "vertical" tickle-spots, such as ribs or face-up feet.
It's an interesting idea, but we're still a long way from a true "tickle machine."
wellotheswitch
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I want somebody to make a machine that focuses on tickling the under-arm and rib area =)
