kander + lumar – object

For our Networked Object, we decided to make one of Lumar’s long-desired ideas, a bubble wrap dispenser, under the assumption that everybody finds popping bubble wrap useful to relieve nervous energy. We improved upon it by installing a roll trigger, and every time a piece of bubble wrap is pulled out, the trigger is pulled, and the connected CloudBit activates the IFTTT Applet that posts to the slack channel called “#stresspopper (you should all subscribe). Now everybody can feel your pain!

Diagram of the StressPopper. The power source is connected to a roll trigger, which it triggered every time a piece of bubble wrap is pulled out. The trigger is connected to a CloudBit, which activates the IFTTT Applet that posts to the #stresspopper Slack channel

We used a ceramic flower pot to house the bubble wrap, and we laser cut a top with a slit for the bubble wrap to come out of. We had to do several iterations of the top, as the first tops we made broke. We also had to figure out how to fold the bubble wrap so that pulling one piece brings the next piece out of the slit (like Kleenex), and used a little bit of rubber cement between each piece to aid in this process.

Our original idea was to create a stress ball with a push button inside, and every time the ball was squeezed, it posted to the Slack channel, but the balloons we were using kept tearing, and we were worried about the Little Bits getting crushed.