Simone Giertz Makes a Shampooing Robot

Robotics Technology
Simone Giertz Makes a Shampooing Robot

shampooBot_2

Simone Giertz, the crowned queen of shi… er… crappy robots, is at it again, this time creating a robot for shampooing her hair. Using a mechanism and controller similar to her “Wake Up Machine” alarm clock robot, Simone used an Arduino Uno and two servomotors to build the bot. One servo controls the back and forth motion of the creepy rubber lathering hand and one controls the squeezing of the shampoo bottle.

YouTube player

As usual, things do not quite go according to plan. The bottle squeezing is a great success, with her commenting at the end (after piles of shampoo are deposited on her head) that she’s clean “all through her scalp.” The back and forth whapping motion of the rubber hand isn’t as bad as you’d expect (especially after seeing the Wake Up Machine make a scary tangle of her hair). But in the end, we’re left with a frustrated human and robot that doesn’t really perform as advertised. Welcome to the future.

I’d actually like to see this in action after the mechanism and electronics were waterproofed and she had a stream of water on her head while the bot was in operation. Without water, it’s not really much of a washing robot…

But it sure is funny. I got some of my biggest laughs from this video. But beware, the video contains salty language, sexual references, and rude gestures performed on a defenseless rubber robo-hand.

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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn

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