“Doggie On & On PART.Ⅰ” is a project for people who are deeply attached to bit annoying but warm behaviors of dogs in their memories. It helps you revive the subtle feeling of persistent but never painful scratches by the dogs obssesed with something you have.

This project started with “dog scratching.”
Dogs scratch various things including doors, humans, or even themselves when they want something. To mimic this behavior, we made a simple scratching device with a servo motor, clothes hooks, foam boards, styrofoam balls, wood sticks, etc.

What would be the most memorable interactive moment between human and dog in terms of the action of scratching?
Our answer was -“when you eat something.”
To make “you eat(input), then dog scratch(output)” possible, we added a load-cell that measure the weight of the biscuits on it so that if you try to eat them, a paw starts to scratch you. The scratching part was also developed into a wearable device which you can wear on your leg, arm, or basically anywhere within the length of the belt.

The biggest challenge we met was to make the scratching device compact and light enough to wear on the body.
Designing the inner structure was the first step for this. To make the rotational motion of the servo motor into the linear motion, we designed our own parts and made them with diverse materials like plastic, wood and acrylic.

The next step was to find the best form and method to wear.
We designed the device considering not only the aesthetic form but also the inner structure and the assembling method so that we can easily assemble, disassemble and repair it. The body of the device was 3D-printed several times in PLA, ABS A-100, and finally in resin. In addition, “how to wear” was also studied by exploring different parts such as Velcro, buckle, ribbon, etc.

We wanted users to choose their favorite paw, use it, and change it into another one whenever they want while using the device.
To give each paw its own characteristics, we explored various materials and ready-made products. Here’s each parts and final materials of them:
- Inner shapes : Hand-carved foam board
- Outer covers : Fake-fur, fake-leather, micro-fiber rag
- Claws : 3D-printed object
- Soles : Button, nose of doll, plastic object

Finding the best way to stick the paws to the main device was a big challenge. The paws must be able to be fixed to the main device while using them and easily taken away after using them. We put Neodymium magnet in the both joining parts of the main device and the paws.
Since the paws have to fit in the device in the right direction, we put a small bump in the joining part of the paw and same-sized hole in the main device to provide affordance. This small part constrain user from assembling it in the wrong way at the same time.

Users have to put food on the load-cell which measures the weight of it and commands the paw to scratch. We covered the top of it with wood which is usually used as material for plates and the rest with sanded translucent acrylic to give affordance.
In addition, we used “barking dog” and “sleeping dog” as signifier of the switch instead of “on” and “off” to remind the users that this device is not a traditional product, but a unique one for specific use and situation.

PART. Ⅱ