How to care for shaEmus
Shaemus lives to eat, sleep, and make you smile. To take your mind off of your nerves when you are preparing to fly, Shaemus gets your attention to remind you there are more important things in life, like getting fat and being peaceful.
Functionality
Shaemus has 3 primary functions and some other functions that are just for fun.
Once Shaemus has been fed enough times, his eyes will fully close and an animation will play to indicate Shaemus is fat and happy and has now gone to sleep.
- Shamus is "woken up" by ringing a bell. The bell is the hanging orange bell-shaped object. There is an accelerometer in this bell that is used to detect when it is rung. Upon activation, Shaemus blinks his eyes 3 times and begins a countdown timer (LED matrix mounted to the barn behind shamus) for the user to interact with him before he gets sad and stops playing because he isn't getting any attention.
- Shaemus can be fed by placing an object through the slot in his mouth. An infrared distance sensor is what detects when food crosses this threshold. When Shaemus is fed, an animation plays on the LED matrix showing that he is happy and his eyes close slightly as he is sleeping. Hopefully, taking care of Shaemus will help the user take their mind off of their anxiety and they will start to mirror Shaemus becoming happy and relaxed.
- Let's say the user thinks Shaemus is just too cute and they want to give him a boop on the nose, they certainly can, but Shaemus doesn't like that. He is trying to sleep! Depending on how hard the user is pressing, Shaemus will open his eyes accordingly - the harder the press the more the eyes open.
Once Shaemus has been fed enough times, his eyes will fully close and an animation will play to indicate Shaemus is fat and happy and has now gone to sleep.
Shaemus does some additional things too. There are vibrating motors inside for when Shaemus is getting antsy to be fed and he wants to let you know. Those vibrations will also buzz along to him snoring. Lastly, Shaemus is a living breathing being. He needs lungs. They are a little different from ours, but Shaemus has airbags on the side driven by pumps to simulate breathing. The midpoint of airbag fullness during the breathing period becomes more and more full as Shaemus is fed to indicate his getting fatter.