Victoria Gottardi, Yueming Gao, Siyu Sun, Maryam

"We wanted an animal robot that could potentially help people in the work environment. Our cat robot, or “The Naughty Robocat” serves as a companion in the workplace to help destress the environment and give the worker a fun, healthy distraction and break from their work as they interact with the Robocat. Considering the interactions, The Naughty Robocat would perform, we began to consider some important questions. The nature of the interactions established would be collaborative between us, the Robocat, and a touch sensor attached to Arduino. The project in its current state would require the use of one human in a simulated work environment. Other humans behind the scenes would oversee preplanning the Robocat’s movements through two different robot states, which is then carried out when the human in the work environment interacts with the touch sensor while they are working. In conclusion, we are investigating the question “Can we create an interactive and collaborative “Naughty Robocat” through the use of a touch sensor connected to Arduino and Processing, a plush cat paw attached to the robot, and a human in the work environment, and can all of these factors work together to create a fun, inviting, and somewhat stress free work environment?"