Glormi – Your Cosmic Cuddle Critter

Meet Glormi, the squishy alien blob who lives to wiggle, chirp, and cuddle! Designed for companionship, tactile play, and emotional interaction, Glormi responds to your touch and motion with gentle purrs and playful sounds. Stroke its fuzzy head or tilt it side to side—Glormi reacts like a soft, living creature from another galaxy.

But Glormi isn't just cute—it’s programmably emotional. Built around a PICAXE 08M2 microcontroller, Glormi simulates moods like happiness, loneliness, and excitement using simple logic and sensory input. When it's been ignored too long, it gets a little sad. Shower it with attention, and it vibrates joyfully in return.

Use cases:

For Children (Ages 4–10)

Teach empathy through play.

Glormi responds to stroking and tilting with happy sounds and wiggles, helping kids understand emotional cause and effect—all without screens. A perfect intro to robotics and kindness.

For Neurodivergent Individuals

A soothing, sensory-friendly companion.

Glormi provides gentle vibrations and sounds in response to touch and motion. Designed for calm, predictable interaction—ideal for sensory regulation and non-verbal emotional connection.

For the Elderly

A quiet friend that responds to care.

With no screens, buttons, or setup, Glormi offers simple companionship through vibration and sound—stimulating memory, calming anxiety, and encouraging gentle interaction.

For Makers & STEM Hobbyists

Your programmable emotional pet.

Powered by a PICAXE 08M2 microcontroller, Glormi is fully hackable. Customize moods, responses, and behavior to explore tactile robotics, emotional AI, or your own alien personality system.

Emotional Logic & Play Modes:

Glormi may look like a squishy alien pet, but inside it's wired with emotional intelligence—thanks to its PICAXE 08M2 microcontroller. Inspired by Tamagotchi and therapeutic toys, Glormi uses simple logic to simulate moods and needs that change over time and based on interaction.

Sensory Play: Stroking the fur patch or gently rocking Glormi stimulates it—causing purrs (vibrations) or chirps (piezo sounds). This encourages nurturing behavior and tactile engagement.

Social Play: Glormi “responds” like a pet—when it’s happy, it vibrates more. If left alone too long, it might get "lonely" and make a sad tone.

Pretend Play: With its alien design and expressive reactions, users often invent personalities and stories for Glormi, making it a rich open-ended play companion.

Emotional States & Programming Ideas:

Using simple variables and timers, Glormi can simulate:

Hunger: A timer counts up when it's left alone; after a threshold, it gets "grumpy" and only vibrates weakly until "fed" (stroked).

Happiness: Increases with stroking and rocking, triggering more frequent purring/chirping.

Sleepiness: If it hasn’t been touched for a long time, it goes into “nap mode” (dim sounds, no vibration).

Excitement: Quick alternating tilts trigger rapid chirps and wiggles, like it’s playing a game.

These emotional "modes" can be stored as variables in the PICAXE, with IF/THEN logic and simple timers using SETTIMER and READADC inputs for interaction sensing.

You can customize Glormi’s emotional behavior by tweaking its code:

Adjust how quickly it gets “lonely” or how energetically it reacts

Add sleep modes, attention calls, or "feeding" rituals

Invent your own alien personality with unique sounds and reactions

Whether you’re exploring playful robotics, emotional AI, or just want a buddy who wiggles when you pet it, Glormi is your programmable pal from the stars.

Small piece of velvet

double sided tape

googly eyes

super glue

mirror tape

electrical tape

packing tape

wire (wire wrap or old network cable)

perfboard with pads, two pieces of 8 by 16 holes

small screw (see text)

li-po battery (any size that will fit, see text)

long header pins x17

regular header pins x3

female header 6 hole

touch sensor TTP223

0.1 uf ceramic capacitor (104)

10k resistors x3

22k resistor

tilt switch SW-200D x2

mercury tilt switch (or high current tilt switch)

Pager vibration motor

bs170 mosfet (or n-channel equivalent)

piezo transducer (Needs an external driver to produce sound)

PICAXE 08M2 (or any 8pin model)

Any type of Lithium polymer battery charger

PC with serial Port (or PICAXE download cable) and PICAXE EDITOR

I used a software called DIY layout creator to plan the board layout.

Soldering wire

Soldering iron

side cutters

nail polish or conformal coating

Creativity!

Before jumping into the physical build, it's important to carefully design the brain of your blob-bot. The PICAXE 08M2 microcontroller has just 5 usable I/O pins (C.1 to C.4, with C.0 and C.5 reserved for serial programming), so planning is essential.

Start by sketching a simple schematic of your robot’s input and output connections:

1. Inputs:
2. A capacitive touch sensor wired to pin C.3, which sends a digital HIGH (1) when touched.
3. Two tilt switches, both connected in parallel to pin C.4, so a tilt in either direction triggers a HIGH input.
4. Outputs:
5. A vibration motor controlled via pin C.1 (ideally with a transistor if your motor draws more current than the pin can handle).
6. A piezo speaker connected to pin C.2, which will emit beeps or chirps using the sound command.

Once your schematic is ready, build the circuit on a breadboard to test each function:

1. Confirm that the touch sensor reliably detects stroking when triggered.
2. Rock the tilt switches to verify movement detection.
3. Test vibration and sound outputs separately and together, ensuring they don’t overload your power source.

This breadboard phase is where you can also test out different response patterns (e.g., one chirp for a tilt, two for a stroke) and start thinking about how Glormi might express emotion, hunger, or mood changes through these basic outputs.

Test tilt and speaker:

Test touch and vibrate:

Once your schematic works reliably on the breadboard, it’s time to move from planning to a permanent layout.

To design the physical positioning of components, I used DIY Layout Creator (available from diy-fever.com). This free tool is great for planning stripboard, perfboard, or freeform wiring projects, and helps you avoid messy guesswork.

For Glormi, I chose to split the build across two small perfboards, each with an 8x16 hole grid. These were stacked vertically, like a tiny sandwich, using header pins at the edges for alignment and connectivity. This not only saves space inside the blob body but also gives the build a sturdy, modular feel.

All wiring was free-formed with either insulated wire or soldered lines, meaning no etched PCB or custom board—just careful placement and solid soldering. The compact stack allows Glormi’s components (motor, speaker, and sensors) to nest neatly within the sculpted body.

Cut two pieces of padded prefboard so that there are 8 by 16 holes.

With your layout finalized, it’s time to bring Glormi to life—starting from the top board, which holds the heart of the robot.

Begin by soldering the lowest-profile components first—typically:

1. Resistors
2. The PICAXE 08M2
3. Any small capacitors

This approach helps prevent taller components from getting in the way as you build. Use your layout from DIY Layout Creator as a visual guide for where to place each part. Be sure to double-check connections to avoid errors when space is tight.

Creative Tip: Since this is a free-form build, don’t feel restricted to rigid traces or strict rows. You can route wires under, over, or around the board in whatever way makes sense for your soldering skill, preferred style, or visual aesthetic. Glormi is a blob—it doesn’t mind a little personality!

Important: Do not solder the header pin pads yet. These will be used to connect the second board, so you want to leave them clean for now.

Now it’s time to prepare your top board for stacking by installing the header pins that will connect it to the bottom board.

Take a set of tall header pins with long legs and insert them from the top side of the top board, so the longer legs poke down through the holes. Press the plastic spacer firmly against the board to hold the pins in position.

Once they’re aligned:

1. Solder the pins on the underside (pad side) of the top board.
2. Make sure the pins are straight and secure—these are the backbone of your stacked design.
3. Now you can connect any needed traces or wires to these pins on the pad side, using your layout from DIYLC as a reference.

These header pins will act both as mechanical supports and electrical connectors between the two boards, keeping everything compact and modular.

Use one length of 8 pins and 3 loose pins

Now we're starting on the bottom board, which will hold Glormi’s outputs and motion sensors. This step begins the population process—but the board isn’t finished just yet.

Solder the following components onto the bottom board:

1. Tilt switches – Both are connected in parallel to the same signal line (C.4 on the PICAXE). These detect side-to-side rocking motion.
2. A piezo speaker – Used to produce simple beeps and tones for Glormi’s expressive audio feedback.
3. A BS170 MOSFET – This acts as an electronic switch to control the vibration motor later, allowing the PICAXE to safely handle higher current without stress on its output pins.

Use your DIY Layout Creator plan to place components.

Note: The vibration motor and additional wiring will be added later, so leave space and access for those connections. The tilt switches should be at an angle to detect rocking motion.

With the main components soldered in place, it’s time to attach the mercury tilt switch and vibration motor

1. Start by cutting small pieces of padded mirror tape (or strong double-sided foam tape). This helps cushion the components while also keeping them firmly in place.
2. Stick the mercury tilt switch to the board using a piece of this tape. Position it flat and stable to ensure reliable tilting detection.
3. Do the same with the vibration motor, taking care to keep the rotating head completely unobstructed so it can spin freely and vibrate without interference.

Once you're happy with their placement:

1. Solder the motor and tilt switch leads to their respective pads.
2. Double-check that the connections are secure, but that there’s still just enough flex for the vibration motor to do its thing.

These glued components aren’t just functional—they’re key to Glormi’s personality! This step helps bring it one wiggle closer to life. The mercury tilt switch can be replaced with any tilt switch that can handle about 200 mA.

With all the components in place on the bottom board, it’s time to connect the signal and power lines.

Using your layout plan as a guide, solder in the necessary wires to connect components like:

1. The piezo speaker
2. Tilt switch
3. MOSFET (to the motor and control pin)
4. Power and ground rails
5. Motor
6. Tilt switch.

Use flexible, insulated wire or the the pads and route them in a way that keeps the board clean and compact.

Important: Do not solder anything to the pads where the header pins from the top board and touch sensor will connect. These need to remain open and clean for the next step, when the two boards will be stacked and electrically joined.

This step is all about setting up solid connections while preparing for final assembly.

Before stacking the boards together, let’s make sure Glormi’s sensitive parts are well protected.

1. Place a piece of electrical tape on the underside of the top board—right where it will sit above the mercury tilt switch. This prevents accidental shorting or pressure on the switch when the boards are joined.
2. Next, add a small piece of foam tape to the top of the vibration motor. This helps cushion the connection and ensures that any contact with the top board doesn’t interfere with the motor’s movement or generate unwanted noise.

This step is all about safeguarding Glormi’s internals for long-term durability and consistent behavior.

Yay! It’s time to squish the boards together and see Glormi begin to take shape as one compact unit.

1. Carefully align the top board above the bottom board using the tall header pins.
2. Gently press the boards together until they’re snug—watch that the tape and components aren't squashed or shifted out of place.

Once everything looks aligned and secure:

1. Only solder the four corner pins for now. These provide stability and hold the boards together while still allowing access to other connections in later steps.
2. Leave the other header pins unsoldered—you’ll come back to those once more components and wires are in place.

At this stage, Glormi’s brain and body are united, and it’s starting to feel real!

Next up is Glormi’s pettable personality core—the TTP223 touch sensor that detects strokes and taps on its fuzzy little head.

To mount it cleanly and compactly:

1. Place the TTP223 module face-down on a flat surface, with the touch pad side down. This ensures the pins won't protrude on the top side once soldered.
2. Insert a row of 3 short header pins into the pin holes. Make sure they sit flush with the module’s top side (which is now facing down). This gives a low profile, ideal for embedding under fur.
3. Use Blu Tack, tape, or helping hands to keep the pins standing straight while you work.
4. Solder the pins from the component side (the side with the IC and resistors).

Keep your solder joints tidy and avoid blobs—this piece will sit near the surface, and we don’t want it poking through or feeling weird when stroked.

Time to add Glormi’s sense of touch!

You'll now attach the touch sensor to the bottom board and install a 6-pin female header for external connection.

What to do:

1. Grab your assembled TTP223 touch sensor (from Step 11).
2. Position it face up, and align its header pins with your DIY Layout Creator plan—the sensor sits near the edge of the bottom board, on the opposite side of the long header row.
3. Use helping hands or Blu Tack to hold the sensor steady, then solder the header pins to the bottom board.
4. Place a 6-pin female header horizontally along the edge of the board, just beside the long row of header pins.
5. Use helping hands or tape to hold it in position while you solder it flat to the board.

This header will let you easily reprogram or expand Glormi without opening up the whole build.

Now Bask in the Glory…

With the touch sensor and connectors in place, you’re looking at the completed skeleton of Glormi—its full electronic nervous system assembled and ready for life. From here on, it’s all about wrapping that brain in charm, fur, and a whole lot of weird personality.

That’s it—all internal components are now installed and connected. The touch sensor is securely in place, and thanks to its flush-mount soldering, its signal line is already connected to the board—no extra wiring needed.

Connect the Battery:

1. Use a Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery as Glormi’s power source.
2. Attach the battery to the bottom board using a small piece of mirror tape—this holds it firmly in place without adding height or bulk.
3. Ensure the wires are neatly routed, then connect the battery leads to the board’s power input, double-checking polarity before powering on.

Once connected, Glormi should respond to touch and tilt—buzzing, beeping, or wiggling to let you know it's alive.

Before wrapping Glormi in its cosmic shell, we need to finalize a safe, one-way-only connection for programming and charging.

Orientation Matters – Hardware Keying with a Dummy Pin:

To prevent reverse connections and protect your circuit:

1. When designing the boards in DIY Layout Creator, the third pin from the left on the 6-pin female header was deliberately marked NC (Not Connected)—both in the layout and in the schematic.
2. Now, take a small screw (about M1 size) and carefully screw it into that unused third hole of the female header. This fills the NC slot.
3. You are now left with:
4. 2 open pins on the left, and
5. 3 open pins on the right.
6. To match this, prepare your programming/charging cable by removing the third pin from the corresponding male header, so it physically can’t be inserted the wrong way.

Why This Works:

1. That middle pin isn’t connected to anything—so filling it doesn’t affect the electronics.
2. This mechanical keying method guarantees correct polarity every time, protecting the LiPo battery and PICAXE 08M2 microcontroller.
3. It’s a simple trick for a professional, foolproof connection.

Before we mold Glormi into its final squishy form, we need to tame it. Since Glormi reacts to touch and tilt, it’ll vibrate and beep like a little maniac if powered during sculpting. So first, let's build a cable that allows programming and/or charging—and send it a “do nothing” program to keep it still.

Choose Your Cable Strategy:

You have two options:

1. All-in-one combo cable for programming + charging (shared header, but can’t do both at once).
2. Two separate cables for dedicated programming and dedicated charging.

Note: When Glormi is in programming mode, charging won’t happen—the battery is still connected to the circuit, so no proper charging isolation.

Build Your Cable:

If we lie Glormi on its back the pins should lie like this:

pin1 pin2 NC pin4 pin5 pin6

You can use the pictures and schematic to also double check what goes where.

1. Header Orientation: Use the 6-pin male header to match your keyed female socket (with NC pin filled).
2. For Programming (PICAXE):
3. Connect GND to pin 4 , TX to pin 1, and RX to pin 2 of the pin header. The pin numbers in the picture is the serial port on the PC d-connector. Remember that TX from PC goes to Serial In (ser_in) on Glormi and RX from pc goes to Serial out (ser_out) on Glormi.
4. Use a PICAXE USB-to-Serial cable, or roll your own.
5. For Charging:
6. Connect the positive (V+) to pin 6 and ground (GND) to pin 5, of the pin header to, your LiPo charger module.

Test It:

1. Plug in your new cable.
2. Verify that:
3. You can successfully download a program to Glormi.
4. The battery charges when in charging mode.

Calm Glormi:

If all is working, upload a minimal program to keep Glormi from reacting while you work:

This will effectively pause all inputs and outputs, so Glormi doesn’t wiggle or beep during the next stage—embedding and decorating.

🎉 With your cable built and Glormi calmed, you're now ready to give your alien critter a body worthy of the stars!

Before sculpting Glormi’s squishy cosmic shell, it’s crucial to protect the electronics from moisture and short circuits. Wet air-drying clay is slightly conductive, so any exposed pins or solder joints can cause glitches or damage.

Cover Connection Points

1. Use a small piece of clear packing tape to cover the 6-pin female header.
2. Only apply a single thin layer, so it can either be peeled off cleanly later or pierced by the male header once the clay is dry.

Wrap It Like a Cocoon

1. Take electrical tape and gently wrap the entire assembly, forming a tight protective cocoon.
2. Ensure all exposed pins and pads are fully insulated—especially those at the top and sides of the boards.
3. Keep the wrap as compact as possible to avoid bulking up the clay shape later.

Protect the Touch Sensor

1. The TTP223 touch sensor sticks out from the body.
2. Paint the component side and the exposed pins with:
3. Clear nail polish, or
4. Conformal coating (ideal for electronics).
5. This creates a moisture barrier and ensures no shorts when clay is applied nearby.

Reminder: Even slightly conductive clay can cause your robot to misbehave or stop responding altogether—take the time to seal it right.

Now it’s time to give your Glormi its alien identity!

Shape the Shell

1. Use air-dry clay (also called magic clay) to sculpt Glormi's body.
2. Start by forming a ball and gently shaping it into an egg, sized to fit comfortably in your hand.
3. I used a mix of three clay colors to create a swirling, alien rainbow blob effect—but you do you! Make Glormi as wild or minimal as you like.

Sensor & Port Placement

1. Programming/Charging Header:
2. Position this at the bottom of the egg.
3. Shape the clay so the header is slightly recessed and flush with the shell.
4. Leave enough clearance to easily insert your programming cable later.
5. Touch Sensor:
6. This goes at the very top of the body.
7. Do not cover the sensing side with clay!
8. Instead, nestle it into the shape so it sits exposed and accessible for stroking.

Eyes & Personality

1. If you’re using googly eyes, don’t attach them yet—they won’t stick well to wet clay.
2. Instead, sculpt small recesses for where the eyes will go once dry.
3. Feel free to add ears, nubs, or other alien features! Mine looks like a plush egg with ears—cute and weird in equal measure.

Functional Sculpting

1. Design Glormi so that when upright, the tilt switches stay off and the touch sensor is on top.
2. When inverted or laid on its back, it should tilt enough to turn itself off—I gave mine a flat back for this reason, it lies with its alien but in the air. That is the function of the mercury tilt switch.
3. This adds a natural off-switch gesture.

Now... we wait.

The clay is thick, and air-dry clay doesn’t rush. It might feel like an eternity, but it’s the perfect moment to dream up how your Cosmic Cuddle Critter will come to life.

While You Wait...

1. Plan personality traits, custom behaviors, or even outfits.
2. Sketch Glormi’s backstory. Intergalactic traveler? Emotional support alien? A curious blob from a rainbow dimension?

Once Dry (Finally)...

1. Glue on the googly eyes—right into the recesses you sculpted.
2. I’m not sure if your magic clay is paint-friendly, but test a patch if you're feeling artistic. Add stars, blush, tattoos, tribal markings—go nuts.

Time for the Touch Sensor Glow-Up

1. Cut a small square of thin double-sided tape.
2. Stick on a patch of:
3. Velvet,
4. Faux fur, or
5. Whatever makes your Glormi feel good to touch

over the touch sensor.

1. This not only hides the touch sensor but gives Glormi a satisfying tactile response when stroked—like a purring alien cat.
2. Bonus: it looks like a punk rock mohawk or cosmic hair tuft. Total style points.

With Glormi now dried, dressed, and decorated, it’s time to wake it up and unleash the intergalactic friendship.

Glormi may be small, squishy, and simple — but don’t let the googly eyes fool you. Beneath that rainbow shell beats the heart of an emotionally reactive companion that vibrates, sings, and responds to your every touch and tilt.

Built around the humble PICAXE 08M2, Glormi proves that a playful personality doesn’t need a complex brain. Its straightforward design makes it beginner-friendly, yet flexible enough to inspire advanced makers to add new behaviors, moods, and interactions.

Want more sensors? A smarter chip? A memory of its own? Glormi is the perfect launchpad for your creativity. But even in its purest form, it's already a loveable little alien blob that feels alive in your hands.

This is just the beginning.

Where will your Glormi go? 🚀💫