Join the Pen15 club with a vibrator shield

posted Oct 16th 2011 6:48am by
filed under: arduino hacks

For all you teledildonics enthusiasts, there’s a new Vibrator shield for the Arduino. It gets better: you can use the Pen15 shield with a Kinect for wholesome and natural fun at home.

Decency and a ‘safe for work’ style prevents us from putting everything we know on the front page, so keep reading after the break.

We’re just going to jump right into this one. The Pen15 board is an Arduino-compatible shield, “built specifically for sex tech and teledildonics research.” The board is pretty simple – just a MOSFET, a few resistors and a jack to hook vibrators up to. The Pen15 board is the result of years of longing on the part of [qDot], author of slashdong.org.

[qDot] is going to be holding a workshop at Art && Code 3D at Carnegie Mellon University next week where he’ll do a mashup of the Pen15 and a Kinect. We don’t know what that entails, but we’re pretty sure it’s going to look like that one scene in Lawnmower Man.

Of course, the Pen15 shield is fully usable without a Kinect. [qDot] wrote Deldo, a vibration control and teledildonics mode for Emacs. Yes, you can now have sex with Emacs.

A big thanks to everyone who sent this one in. Really, you’re a big help.



87 Responses to Join the Pen15 club with a vibrator shield

  • Paul Granis says:
    October 16, 2011 at 7:02 am

    Gives a whole new meaning to “lol, dongs”

    Reply Report comment
  • Golan Levin says:
    October 16, 2011 at 7:07 am

    Hi, I run the Art && Code festival; thanks for your interest. Kyle’s handle is qDot, not gDot. He is @qDot on twitter. It would be great if you could correct this, thanks.

    Reply Report comment
  • DooWeeNo says:
    October 16, 2011 at 7:59 am

    Awesome. Love to see sex toy hacks.

    Reply Report comment
    • Drake says:
      October 16, 2011 at 1:19 pm

      Guess I was wrong about the 555 contest …

      I used a 555 to make a pwm driver for a erm toy …

      Some of them things are horrifically cheaply built especially the potentiometer piece on some of them. The one I was replacing would work in some places then only worked as on or off then broke completely.

      Reply Report comment
  • buzzles says:
    October 16, 2011 at 8:37 am

    Following the teledildonics link and reading the wikipedia article about it got me thinking that this is the first step to that VR Sex Machine that was in Demolition Man.

    Reply Report comment
  • Henrik Pedersen says:
    October 16, 2011 at 8:37 am

    I can’t wait for all the “sex hacks” that this is going to inspire… Imagining lots of wierd accidents coming up :P

    But I think it is a cool concept… There should be nothing to stop hackers from playing around in other “fields”…

    Reply Report comment
  • rasz says:
    October 16, 2011 at 8:47 am

    first thing that came to my mind was a clip from The Big Bang Theory where 2 dudes test kissing machine ….

    Reply Report comment
  • HackerK says:
    October 16, 2011 at 8:53 am

    so this is just basically a MOSFET board. I guess ‘sex’ sells, otherwise boring.

    Reply Report comment
    • Kevin Keith says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:39 am

      Well, it’s basically a publicity stunt that uses this never-failing formula:

      1. Take something rather uninteresting and unimpressive
      2. Make some tenuous connection to sex
      3. Show it to the world!
      4. Watch everyone revel at how “ironic” and “cool” it is!
      5. Call anyone annoyed or offended “oppressed”
      6. Sit back, and think about how far we’ve progressed.

      Reply Report comment
  • djneo says:
    October 16, 2011 at 8:58 am

    so i can now combine my love for programming with the love for my girlfriend.

    That will be an awkward moment when somebody walks in

    Reply Report comment
  • CB4 says:
    October 16, 2011 at 9:43 am

    Wait i need to reboot the dildo darling

    Reply Report comment
  • 1.21GIGAWATTS says:
    October 16, 2011 at 9:59 am

    Wonder if anyone has considered
    making one of these wirelessly
    powered? That would be a badass
    hack.

    Reply Report comment
  • austin says:
    October 16, 2011 at 10:33 am

    now they need to make a sex machine(not a vibrator, a machine that actually moves the dildo) that you can control via kinect. perhaps a linear motor which moves the dildo in relation to the movement of the individual’s body.
    alternatively to using kinect you could apply some sensors to a fleshlight, the dildo on the other side moves in relation to how far into the fleshlight the penis is.

    Reply Report comment
    • nah! says:
      October 17, 2011 at 12:50 am

      that would be Fuckzilla from fucking machines
      (which is a porn seies which mostly contains artificial double penetration)

      Reply Report comment
      • austin says:
        October 23, 2011 at 10:37 am

        not quite. the fucking machine wasnt the main point of the post there are tons of fucking machines, the point was the connection of the fucking machine to the kinect so a human at one end can make the movements, those movements are recorded and sent via the internet to the machine at the other end which replicates them to the lucky person on the other end. a fleshlight with sensors inside could be used instead of a kinect (it would also feel better to the sender)

        it would still be a poor replacement for just being there, but still better than nothing.

  • Justblair says:
    October 16, 2011 at 10:40 am

    The headline caught my eye, but for a different reason.

    In the UK, we used to have teletext on our televisions. This was a rudimentary data service broadcast on the analogue TV signal and accessed via your remote control.

    One use for the teletext was to keep up with the football (OK Soccer to our US cousins) live scores. Due to the limited bandwith and screen resolution, many things would be abbreviated.

    A rare and special moment came when a goal would be scored in the 15th minute of the match via a penalty shoot. The Penalty 15th minute was shortened to PEN15!

    Such a rare occasional was a source for much celebration for me and my mates, phone calls and eventually texts would alert everyone to such a special event… Happy Days indeed :)

    Reply Report comment
    • Eirinn says:
      October 17, 2011 at 1:58 am

      Fantastic! Thank you for elaborating.

      Reply Report comment
    • Dax says:
      October 17, 2011 at 4:39 am

      Most of Europe had the same system. Came with the PAL carrier really, because the data was embedded in the blanking sequence of the signal, so you had a burst of data every 1/50th of a second.

      We used ours for subtitles, weather service, news, and a phone-in television chat, and all sorts of things from stocks to sports to buy&sell pages and personal ads. It was a bit like the internet before the internet. You had like a thousand different pages that were sent one after the other in a sequence, and you’d jot in a number and the TV would show it once it came out of the rotation. The subtitle pages would update faster.

      Reply Report comment
      • Dax says:
        October 17, 2011 at 4:41 am

        Btw. it still exists, embedded in the DVB-T/C/S stream if you have a suitable reciever to pick it up and the broadcasting company bothers to add it.

      • Dax says:
        October 17, 2011 at 4:48 am

        And the thing I remember about it was, that they could alter the priority of pages sent, so the chat page would actually load fast enough for you to see your message as you were typing it by dialing on a phone.

        Of course it cost a lot of money to call in and share your nonsense, but it too was like pre-twitter in a sense.

  • Strike2 says:
    October 16, 2011 at 11:04 am

    It concerns me deeply that HaD would post this. Deride me if you will, but I cannot let this pass without standing up against it. I believe in a far greater moral standard than what this article embraces. Sites such as HaD ought to be a safe environment for all, young and old, to learn new skills and ideas. We should never be subjected to such filth, and the editors should be ashamed for allowing this.

    I know there are others who believe in virtue yet; I ask you to stand up for what’s right and not let this go unchallenged. Comment here; email the editors- let them know that this trash is beneath them. We appreciate knowledge and new ideas, but if this type of ‘hack’ appears again, I will not return to this website. I encourage others to do the same; we deserve better, and HaD can do better.

    Reply Report comment
    • Caleb Kraft says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:08 am

      your ideas of what are virtuous may not be our ideas of what are virtuous. we have covered much more explicit topics than this in the past. You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but we simply do not share your opinion.

      Reply Report comment
    • Bob says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:12 am

      They wrote the article well. Ir provides the information needed with offensive language. Over all I think they did a good job. It is a lot less offensive then half the magazine covers or tabloid articles sitting next to the candy as the grocery store.

      Reply Report comment
    • nikescar says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:17 am

      Oh my. Another sexually repressed religious freak. I know people say that every opinion is valid but you are the exception to the rule.

      Reply Report comment
      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 16, 2011 at 11:21 am

        Apparently, anyone who finds the proliferation of sexual topics, into anything and everything, offensive is “sexually repressed.” First of all, “sexual repression” isn’t even a valid concept. The term was invented by Freud, who we all know was /extremely/ enthusiastic about the scientific methods! (sarcasm). Secondly, most if not all of the anecdotes about the “repression” of the Victorian Era were made up in the 1930s.

      • Caleb Kraft says:
        October 16, 2011 at 11:55 am

        I will defend him to his right to thinking that this topic is risqué. I think several people have somehow confused us with a more family oriented site though. While most of our content is suitable for all ages, we were never a G-rated site.

      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

        I think this offensive only in that it is gratuitously sexual, wholly unnecessary, and unoriginal.

      • Colin says:
        October 16, 2011 at 10:31 pm

        Way to show as much (if not more) ignorance than him by automatically assuming he is sexually repressed and a “religious freak” because he takes issue with a post.

    • Kevin Keith says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:18 am

      I’m going to have to agree, in that, I think this is a worthless “hack” to even bring up. So they attached a motor to an arduino; this hasn’t been done before? Apparently, when you do that, and put pictures of penises on the PCB, it makes it interesting. I’m sorry, but this just seems to be nothing more than shock-marketing, and an attempt to legitimize something with little to no actual intellectual merit.

      Reply Report comment
    • bemis says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:38 am

      Agreed.

      I don’t have a problem with this being done, as an adult I can simply skip over it if I want… but, IMO, it now puts hack-a-day into the category of being filtered out for kids under 13 if these are the types of stories/articles that may be posted.

      This was unnecessary…

      Reply Report comment
      • Caleb Kraft says:
        October 16, 2011 at 11:54 am

        We have always had content that might not be advisable for those who are younger. Simply browse our older stories. We’ve covered stripper bots, steam powered vibrators, porn on billboards etc.

        We do attempt to stay somewhat mild in our coverage, but we cover these things just the same, and always have.

      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 16, 2011 at 11:57 am

        I guess, my issue with this is that unlike the steam powered vibrator, this just seems to be a blatant publicity stunt. As I sad in other comments, it’s just a motor with an arduino, does it deserve reporting?

    • Hungry_Myst says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:43 am

      If kids find out about the existence of vibrators the next thing you know they’ll be having orgies in the streets!!!

      Reply Report comment
      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 16, 2011 at 11:49 am

        There are some who feel that sex has no place on a site which has as much educational value as HaD does. The point is, this hack is exceptional only in taking something unbelievably mundane and drawing attention to it by relating it to sex. It’s not as if this it provides any learning experience which has not been done before. Attaching a motor to an arduino? Overkill, and implemented too many times to count, but newsworthy because the PCB has a penis on it!

    • cmholm says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:43 am

      Kudos, excellent troll…. otherwise, you’re kidding, right?

      Reply Report comment
    • N0LKK says:
      October 16, 2011 at 4:51 pm

      Risking that your are simply trolling, or failed to indicate sarcastic intent. Respectfully my experience has been that those who bring up virtue,often are themselves virtuously ambiguous.

      Reply Report comment
    • Mr. Sandman says:
      October 19, 2011 at 9:28 am

      >I believe

      HaD isn’t a site for beliefs, it’s a site for ideas.

      You want beliefs? Go to church.

      Reply Report comment
      • N0LKK says:
        October 19, 2011 at 12:46 pm

        Mr. Sandman says:
        October 19, 2011 at 9:28 am

        >I believe

        Dude while I have issues with Strike2′s comment, and I’m still unsure if comments directed to that comments directed to a troll or not. Moving on I understand that the phrase “I believe” doesn’t always indicate a faith belief, and moral standards can exist in the absence a faith belief. Unless someone deliberate brings up faith, I resist making that assumption the best I can I’ll leave at that because, “I don’t believe” many here want to read an essay that is not directed to the technical side of the item of topic.

      • Mr. Sandman says:
        October 19, 2011 at 1:09 pm

        I didn’t mean to sound crass, just proving a point on “beliefs vs. ideas”.

        Ideas are just that. They can be changed, no harm no foul. But beliefs are more engraved into certain circles, primarily religion. Considering that Strike’s rant is on HaD, where lots of good ideas are born, saying “I believe this is wrong.” about a potentially immoral idea, or any idea for the matter, is like saying science shouldn’t exist because some sciences practice things that most religions would disapprove of (like cloning, birth control, and physical augmentations; i.e.: ‘playing god’). Hence, the “Go to church.” statement.

        Of course, Strike could have meant to use it as ‘I believe I’m using a computer to go on the internet.’ syntax, but the fact that he brought up morality lead me to think he was a religious nutcase.

        Troll or not, Strike2 won’t be missed.

    • Brian Neeley says:
      October 19, 2011 at 8:55 pm

      I agree that with Kevin Keith that this is simply a marketing ploy to sell a *duino motor shield. I don’t use *duinos (hell, I barely hack anything), but I am reasonably sure I would find something else even if I wanted to build something like this.

      My major comment, thou, is this: I have sixteen year old twins (one boy, one girl) that are both already WAY too involved in matters concerning sex as it is. BUT, if I were to choose to allow them to either read about the board, or this rant-attacking-rant-attacking-potential_troll, I think I would prefer they read about the board.

      One other comment that I haven’t seen (that is more likely than just-a-slow-news-day for such a no-tech, already-done article), is that HaD has to occasionally post a “racy” or “fringe” post every so often to allow those of us who need to rant, troll, slur, etc a place to let loose.

      Please understand, I LIKE HackADay better without all the nastiness and troll-baters. But if you have people who need it…. Well, here is an article for you.

      Reply Report comment
    • Steve says:
      October 29, 2011 at 5:50 pm

      Please, grow up. Your puritanical nonsense harms HaD as a whole by stifling interesting projects on the basis of their potential uses. What really shocks me is not that they would post such a thing as this, but that you would take more offence at this than you would of, say, the taser gloves hack, or the prometheus hand-mounted flamethrowers. I’m just going to say that it’s pretty clear which of these would be the most potentially harmful to anyone trying to replicate them.

      Reply Report comment
      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 30, 2011 at 7:54 am

        I don’t think I ever mentioned potential harm as a metric by which I deemed the worthiness of this hack. This is obviously blatant and shameless self-promotion for something with relatively no self-standing intellectual merit. Why should HaD pander to this person’s interest, if all he has to offer in return is an arduino and motor with male genitalia and a ridiculously apparent ulterior motive of financial gain? I need to grow up? On the contrary, I think anyone who is so feverishly compelled to sexualize things under the obnoxious auspice of innovation or progress (presumably to perpetuate some sort of delusion of legitimacy) demonstrates painfully immature behaviour. Moreover, those who resort to the tired, repetitive, tedious, and incessant decries of “Puritanism!” and “prudishness!” etc, apparently lack competence in actual engagement of any assemblage of logical discourse.

        This entire matter is rife with unwarranted sense of importance. (Just a preemptive strike: before you accuse me of being afflicted by this, remind me where my web pages composed of pretentious, mediocre, tripe, with the corresponding articles describing them, are.) Would someone in opposition to my stance answer this question in a straightforward manner: why does skepticism towards unnecessary and gratuitous sexualization automatically class someone as a prude or Puritan? And while we’re on the subject, what exactly is a “Puritan?” Surely, you don’t actually mean I’m a roundhead from the English Civil War? Are these labels anything more than semantically null grunts hurled at one’s enemies? (My experiences so far tell me no). Why is such ridiculous hyperbole not orthogonal to both sides? Why can’t I call you an Adamite? (look it up). I’ll hazard to guess either are equally anachronistic and moronic. Right well, I’m going to go make a nose-pick-duino shield, with a motor attached that picks your nose. I’m also going to put a picture of a nose on said shield, BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME. Then I’m going to give a talk at Harvard on how to integrate nose-picking into video games. Oh and it’s going to cost $300 for tickets…but hey, you get that free PCB with the nose on it and about $15 worth of parts. No takers? Aw….

  • zuul says:
    October 16, 2011 at 11:18 am

    lol mfw teledildonics is a real word

    Reply Report comment
  • monopole says:
    October 16, 2011 at 11:24 am

    A fantastic idea with a terrible implementation. A good multiaxis motor shield (for cellphone vibrators) copuled with an SSR driver (for a magic wand or sybian) would be much better.

    Reply Report comment
  • Rob Wentworth says:
    October 16, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Pen15… Now what word would that look like on a 7-segment display?

    Reply Report comment
  • therian says:
    October 16, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    confirms that arduino is gay

    Reply Report comment
  • baobrien says:
    October 16, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    How impressive… they hooked a motor up to an arduino…

    Reply Report comment
    • Kevin Keith says:
      October 16, 2011 at 2:10 pm

      But I think you’re forgetting the all important fact that it’s related to sex. Oh and if you disagree you’re a repressed prudish idiot who thinks this is going to destroy the world

      /sarcasm

      Reply Report comment
  • Haku says:
    October 16, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    The “oh my god, HaD shouldn’t post such filth!” should get over themselves, it’s not like this is the first adult oriented entry (ahem) in the HaD hacks list:

    http://hackaday.com/2009/05/03/steampunk-vibrator/

    Reply Report comment
  • tom says:
    October 16, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    bah been done, i had a servo that thrusted a rubber cock in response to the hip bones from the kinect.

    Reply Report comment
  • Derek says:
    October 16, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    I’d get one for my ex-wife as a wedding gift, but it won’t interface to three-phase 480V.

    Reply Report comment
  • N0LKK says:
    October 16, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    “slashdong” I hope the inspiration for that, wasn’t result of a bug in the software controlling an appliance for use by men.

    Earlier this month I attended a meeting held in a meeting room on a church campus. The college students that prepared a presentation knowing that there was WiFi at the church they could use planned on showing videos that where on you tube. However they weren’t able to. I remarked to their supervisor, that it was likely that the church has blocked access to you tube. Makes curious to what filters that are used, filters that would block access to the mostly benign hackaday.

    Reply Report comment
  • j0z0r says:
    October 16, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    I agree, this site isn’t always the best for children. Smart ones can filter out the crap, but could you see some 12 or 13 year old thinking the Mains Crossover cable was just an ingenious idea??! Sex is relatively benign when you think of the high voltage hacks and the octocopter. Realistically, what 13 year old on the internet hasn’t stumbled across an illicit image or so… Prolly on purpose more times than not. :)

    Reply Report comment
  • dbear says:
    October 16, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    If you are going to be a lazy parent and not monitor what your kids look at then you deserve what you get. There are a ton of articles on here that are not safe for kids.

    Some pointers for parents from my experience.

    - No one under 16 needs a smart phone. Period. No picture capabilities.
    - The computer the kids can use should never be in their bedroom. Never. Always in a public place where mom can watch.
    - They should not have the password to their account. YOU log them in.
    - Don’t install Firefox (private browsing). Use IE and monitor the Index.dat
    - VNC is your friend
    Trust but Verify.

    Reply Report comment
    • edonovan says:
      October 16, 2011 at 10:10 pm

      A sufficiently clever child would easily circumvent such measures.

      How about instead of attempting to shield your child from the “dangers of the internet”, you let them actually explore and trust/teach them to know appropriate from inappropriate activities.

      My wife and I were both raised under those conditions and turned out okay (IMO).

      Reply Report comment
    • therian says:
      October 17, 2011 at 1:31 am

      do you want to know how I know you didn’t try BS you just wrote ?

      more you restrict the less will you know about you kid

      Reply Report comment
    • Dex says:
      October 18, 2011 at 3:52 am

      @dbear, just curious, how well do you/did you get along with your child? How well did you know them?

      My family is moderately religious. Maybe it comes with the teritory but they were also restrictive and over protective to the point of restricting what shows I could watch (wasn’t allowed to watch the simpsons, etc). I also had an older brother who would rat on me for downloading movies, check my browsing history, etc.

      So what happened … I learned to be a good liar and be sneaky. I decided I would never be a rat. I broke the law a few times but never got caught for anything too serious, got into fights at school, got suspended a few times, smoked occasionally, smoked weed every so often, tried shrooms, abused alcohol once in a while, got drunk at school a couple times, considered suicide more often than one should, never really trusted anyone to talk to, never trusted and hated any one with authority, all before the age of 18. My family still doesn’t know half of these things.

      So I still dislike my brother to this day and I learned more from my mistakes than what my parents taught me. The restrictions only distanced me from my family so I would never talk to them about anything too important, simply telling them what I thought they would want to hear.

      “Trust but verify” really isn’t trusting at all. Trusting is communicating honestly with your kid and having them understand what is generally right with reasons on why you think something is bad. The trust part comes when you just know that they are making responsible decisions when you aren’t around. Teach them to think for themselves and make the right decisions, not just ordering them to do what you tell them. I’m not saying you do this but, “just because I said so”, is not an answer to the question “why”.

      I suppose I could have turned out worse, where I would be the kid that seemed a little off, who obeyed always, and kept silent. The one who didn’t have proper social skills and no friends. Who even obeyed when told to “ignore them” when bullied at school and did not stick up for themselves. Perfect child right? It might seem that way until your neighbor’s pets start turning up dead and mutilated. It usually gets worse from there.

      Reply Report comment
  • reboots says:
    October 16, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    It’s been a while since I was 13; but having not been brainwashed by Kevin Keith’s Church of the Holy Troll, I can tell you that 13-year-olds are the most appropriate demographic for news about this Pen15 Shield. “Adults” are more likely limited to a chuckle. I completely support Hack a Day’s right to publish this harmless item.

    Kevin Keith, this seems relevant to your interests:

    http://www.dreamloverlabs.com/dl2000.php

    Reply Report comment
    • Kevin Keith says:
      October 16, 2011 at 11:23 pm

      Congratulations, you’ve proved yourself as ignorant as you proclaim me to be. First of all, I’m an atheist, but even if I were not, I do not see how my views on religious matters have anything to do with my arguments. My point is, and has always been, that this “hack” is nothing more than something utterly unimpressive sensationalized by appealing to prurient interest. Something that amazes me by your ilk, is the unrelenting view that anyone who takes issue with needless sexualization of any topic whatsoever is “brainwashed,” “repressed,” “prudish,” “stupid,” etc. It is not the toleration of sex, but rather the dogmatic and undying support, encouragement, and bleating that sex be incorporated into anything imaginable. I do not see how it is in anyway ridiculous to take issue with the dilution of an otherwise excellent resource that HaD is, with the likes of this. Am I the only one who finds the fact that this character is giving a bloody seminar at a highly respected University on hooking up a motor to an arduino for the purpose of replicating a vibrator? Right, because I was thinking just the other day that the what we REALLY need, is for for our Universities to teach people more about dildos!

      Oh, and that’s cute. You’ve implied that because my disagreements differ from yours I must have a pathetic sex life, and as such need some sort of surrogate. First of all, doesn’t your support of the hack in question implicitly suggest the same of yourself? Secondly, I’m asexual.

      Reply Report comment
      • Nick says:
        October 17, 2011 at 9:25 am

        So would it not be a stretch to think that your views on this are enhanced because you’re a self-proclaimed ‘asexual’? I mean, in reality the stretch between tying sex to :anything: is a pretty short reach… Is your issue drawn to light because you legitimately feel that the merit of tying a kinect to a vibrating motor and arduino is useless and that the simple idea that it could be used for a sexual nature is offensive? Because if this were packaged and edited differently and the inclusion of the IDEA of sex was left up to the reader, would you still be as incensed as you are? This is a hack, isn’t it? The website is called hack a day.
        tAK brings up a good point in that sex is a pretty harmless thing to be reading about compared to the other, slightly more violent ideas put forth on this website in the form of high voltages, cutting wheels, coil guns/rail guns, etc.; so why is this such an issue, really?

      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 17, 2011 at 10:28 am

        Hi Nick
        I take issue, because the Pen15 is just a motor attached to an arduino. The kinect thing I had not heard of. I was not addressing “think of the children.” I meant more, that this is undeserving of an article because it’s not impressive in the slightest. Now, there was that article awhile back on the steampunk vibrator. That article, and the hacker, however, made no mention of any illicit use and focused solely on the construction. Moreover, despite my general distaste for steampunk, it actually was fairly interesting in the mechanism by which it operated. All I’m saying is that, if I had attached a motor to an arduino to pick my noise, I doubt it would have gotten an article (okay maybe…an arduino nose-picker might be of interest!) Yet, this guy does something even less impressive (I’m not even sure how this works…sticking something like a PCB with bare components in one’s nether regions seems…scary) but only gets reported on because ZOMG SEX. It also somewhat incenses me that he’s giving a seminar (SURPRISE! IT COSTS MONEY!) at a highly respected University. This is such a racket; it’s quite clear this is all marketing for his “lectures.”

      • GameboyRMH says:
        October 19, 2011 at 11:44 am

        “Secondly, I’m asexual.” – Kevin Keith

        LOL saw this coming a mile away XD

        Of course you’re uncomfortable seeing anything about sex if you’ve repressed your human sex drive to the point that you consider yourself asexual. Seriously you are a very, very repressed individual. It’s sad.

      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 19, 2011 at 8:09 pm

        No, asexuality is an orientation. Moreover, “repression” is a pseudo-scientific concept. I am not inherently uncomfortable around sexual things. I am rather irritated when something receives unwarranted publicity and attention by appealing to prurience.

  • elektrophreak says:
    October 16, 2011 at 11:10 pm

    oh no they didn’t… :-)

    Reply Report comment
  • Ryan says:
    October 17, 2011 at 1:28 am

    Sorry, but this is stupid. Its a motor-shield but less capable with a penis silk screened on.

    I pity whoever buys this shit, because I’m positive its going to cost more than an entire damn h-bridge.

    This isn’t about anything other than a second rate product getting hyped by those who don’t seem to realize a vibrator is just a motor with a weight on the end.

    Reply Report comment
    • Ryan says:
      October 17, 2011 at 1:33 am

      I just read some more comments and am genuinely shocked.

      Us “hackers” and “makers” are in a rather pitiful state if so few of us know how to make a motor spin.

      Next lets silkscreen a penis onto the arduino and call it a vibraduino. Exact same hardware but good for making vibrators (and costs twice as much).

      Are we really going to support such mindless attention whoring?

      Sigh…

      Reply Report comment
      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 17, 2011 at 10:40 am

        Oh what do you know? He’s also giving a talk, and it also costs $115, but that’s of course nothing to do with this article, because he REALLY wants everyone to know how to hook up a motor to an arduino, with a penis on the PCB. The fact that he’s actually bloody lecturing on this drivel has NOTHING to do with this. He’s clearly NOT advertising. Right?

    • therian says:
      October 17, 2011 at 1:36 am

      pity who need shield for one way dc motor control

      Reply Report comment
    • Kevin Keith says:
      October 17, 2011 at 1:50 am

      Thank you! This is exactly what I was trying to say! Turn something stupid into something related to sex, and bam, instant publicity.

      Reply Report comment
  • tAK says:
    October 17, 2011 at 5:09 am

    [RelatedPost]
    If you look at the boards “abilities” you could control 4 of any low powered item, could be great fun wired up to some store brought battery powered Halloween / Christmas props.
    [/RelatedPost]

    [Rant]
    Front page clearly stated that it was NSFW and that they’ve kept any more details after the jump – and yet, even those who would call this blasphemy and claim it shouldn’t be broadcast followed the link, read the article, and took the time to complain about it..

    Frankly, I find it more dangerous for a 12 year old to be reading how to make a tesla coil or rail gun, or perhaps you’d prefer they made one of those machette throwing machines.. canon capable of putting a pumpkin through a car door anyone?

    Does anyone here think that making your own devices and plugging them into a 110/240 volt socket to see if they work is 100% safe??

    Parental mis-Guidance seems to be more peoples style these days – why blame yourself when you can blame the free media you let your children access.
    [/Rant]

    Reply Report comment
  • tAK says:
    October 17, 2011 at 5:16 am

    on the note of sex being used merely to draw attention to the item at hand – its clearly a process that works, it got everyones attention – and somehow I don’t think that has at all damaged any kind of future of the product at hand. If I’m going to be putting it on some weird and wacky sex machine I might as well order the board that has a giant phallic symbol on it, and charge the customer more for specialist components. seems fittingly appropriate.

    Reply Report comment
    • Kevin Keith says:
      October 17, 2011 at 10:31 am

      I agree that sex draws attention; that does not mean HaD should render him this attention. Why should something be reported on solely because it relates to sex? Do you think if I had done the same thing, attached a motor to an arduino that is, but called it a backrubuino, it would have gotten an article, or rather, would deserve an article? It’s not as if he’s machined a casing, or designed anything actually innovative here.

      Reply Report comment
      • Elegy says:
        October 17, 2011 at 9:27 pm

        I agree 100% with Kevin that this is one of the most boring hacks I’ve seen on HaD.

        But from a social standpoint, I think it’s an interesting project. As a grad student, I’ve taught classes at a big, state run university. The biggest problem with undergrads in the university classroom is apathy: the kids just want to get their transcript punched with a passing grade and get back to drinking and – er – mating as much as possible.

        This is, I think, the perfect way to get undergrads interested in hacking – as they can combine hacking, drinking and mating all in one go. “Hey kids, make your own dildo!”. In this light, it’s basic nature is essential to it’s success as an educational tool – it’s easy for the beginner to replicate but is “risque” enough to interest your average undergrad into actually learning something.

        I’m just confused as to why you would give a seminar at CM, where the average student was probably doing nuclear physics in junior high (other than the fact that CM students probably have the money to pay). Reduce the price and take it to the big state universities, and you’ve got a winner intro to hacking class that has enormous educational value.

      • Kevin Keith says:
        October 18, 2011 at 12:54 pm

        I see what you’re saying, but then I suppose I find it depressing that education is held in such low regard that it has to be sexualized to draw attention. I mean…electronics, programming, science, they’re almost sacrosanct for me. This is like a physical realization of Rule 34!

        Anyhow, Elegy, the problem I see with this is that this guy qDot is some sort of wannabe demagogue. The fact that he’s clearly making money off of something, which seems to be little more than an attention stunt, makes him quite suspect in my opinion.

  • akeldamach says:
    October 18, 2011 at 10:57 am

    Gives a whole new meaning to ‘penetration testing’ amirite?

    Reply Report comment
  • qDot says:
    October 19, 2011 at 7:47 am

    IAmA wannabe demagogue. AMA.

    Reply Report comment
  • ejonesss says:
    October 23, 2011 at 9:34 am

    using a Arduino or any programmable device is overkill.

    a simple vibrator motor from a cell phone, a vibrator bullet used in combination with inflatable porn dummies would work just a well.

    if the Arduino is being used to control the speed then use a lm317t based circuit to control the speed of the motor.

    Reply Report comment
  • Nazca says:
    October 25, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    Domain Name:SLASHDONG.ORG
    Created On:19-Dec-2003 15:12:33 UTC

    Domain Name: HACKADAY.COM
    Created on: 10-Jun-04

    Before ranting about how much of a gimmic this is, you should go take a look at slashdong’s history.

    And really, you think /this/ is corrupting the youth of today?
    A youth that can easily get instructions for making things like flyback drivers?
    Take responsibility and educate instead of looking for other people to blame!

    Reply Report comment

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