Imagining a pressure-sensitive purr mat

February 1, 2022 2:44 PM

Bootsy seems to enjoy Purrli and I'd like for him to have a place he could go to listen to purring on demand. I'm imagining a pressure-sensitive mat that turns on when he sits on it like a pet heating pad.

I see this purr pillow available for sale, but it requires human intervention to start and it only purrs for two minutes. Bootsy will hang around a purring laptop much longer than that.

Our household has no electronics expertise and is substantially hampered by disability and associated caregiving, so I don't think it's something we can undertake.

For those of you who do have that sort of knowledge: Is this a reasonable project, for pay, for someone who does? What potential hurdles should I be aware of as a non-expert?

posted by jocelmeow to Pets & Animals (5 answers total)

My partner once built a pressure sensitive cat bed that would play a noise when our cat lay down on it. I recall it being a relatively straightforward project for someone with a little expertise. The main issue I recall is that the cat was very light and did not always reliably trigger the noise. He had some ideas for fixing that, but our elderly boy did not last long enough.

All of which is to say: I bet this is doable, especially if Bootsy is a robust boy under all that floof! I can ask him a bit later if there are other major hurdles I’m not remembering.
posted by Stacey at 4:24 PM on February 1, 2022

If you have a corner with a cat bed, an alternate way to solve this might be a cheapo motion sensor trained down on that corner cat bed that connects to Amazon's Alexa system via Alexa Routines and plays an mp3 of 20 minutes of purring you record from Purrili on small Amazon Echo puck speaker. I haven't done this, but it seems technically possible and likely wouldn't require the level of expertise for coding a pressure sensitive switch since Alexa Routines are meant to be user friendly.
posted by bluecore at 4:30 PM on February 1, 2022

Response by poster: Stacey, no trouble there. He's fourteen or fifteen pounds of solid muscle. Thank you.
bluecore, Alexa is not an option, unfortunately. We don't run WiFi in the house because we discovered entirely by accident that a wireless router affects my heart rate.
posted by jocelmeow at 4:49 PM on February 1, 2022

Best answer: Here is one possiblity:

https://www.instructables.com/Use-a-DIY-Pressure-Plate-Switch-to-Automate-Your-H/

An example was given for the plate to trigger a sound module, where presumably you can record sounds off Purrli. While not "hard", I'm not sure you can package it into a relatively cat-resistant form without expending additional resources.

Making it is trivial for someone with a little experience doing eletronics soldering and assembly. The parts would not cost that much. Should come in well below 100, perhaps even below 50. Maybe your local MakerSpace can put you in touch with someone who can volunteer some assembly time. A competent guy should be able to finish assembly in less than 30 minutes.
posted by kschang at 11:40 PM on February 1, 2022

Best answer: I'd agree that it's either a quick and straightforward job for someone who knows what they're doing or a fun learning experience for someone new to electronics. It might be worth posting in mefi jobs?

In addition to the above suggestions, another option would be an arduino (tiny single-board computer) with an infrared distance sensor. It may take a few trials to calibrate it, but if it's fixed to the edge of the cat bed it should be pretty reliable and out of the way. An electronics hobbiest or techy college student could easily do it in an afternoon for a few 10s of dollars in parts.
posted by eotvos at 7:11 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]