Soft Opportunities in the Wild

Store Visit - Pet Smart in Philadelphia, PA

I was in Philadelphia this past week visiting my family and chose to go to Pet Smart as my store visit.

Mini Aquarium Gravel Vacuum

This mini gravel vacuum caught my eye because of the similarities to the syringe, pump and tubing we’ve experimented with in class.

• I want to experiment with water and sound and vacuums and pumps and the aquarium section of the store had a lot of equipment that could be useful that is intentionally made to be water proof and also there was a lot of testing supplies available as well as things like floating LED lights for underwater.

Cat/Dog Fur Grooming Brushes

I loved the variety of brushes and combs for furry pets like cats and dogs.

• This texture matches my experiment in silicone with creating a brush like effect that’s soft and flexible. I was inspired by my own hair detangler so it makes sense that there would be even more varieties and shapes for animals and this gave me inspiration for different shapes and textures that can be used with a silicone material for molding.
• I bought the purple brush on the right and can confirm it works great for both brushing my dog and also removing pet hair (an alternative to lint rollers). For mechanisms I want to think about how to use these with an actuator to create a robotic hair detangler or groomer.

Betta Bed Leaf Hammock

• I loved this little suction cup leaf hammock for a fish and it gave me ideas for how suction as an anchor for any soft robotic experiments I want to do in the water or on glass surfaces like windows.

Snuggle puppy