Tickle machine

The tickle machine was inspired by two questions:

1. Can a machine tickle?

2. Can you use the machine to tickle yourself?

Researchers have found both automated machines and people can tickle. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12198790

A philosopher also used a mirror illusion and a rubber hand to have people tickle themselves.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=248041246

I wanted to replicate the findings of these studies with a simpler mechanism.

First I found that adding an intermediary between the person tickling and the person being tickled does not hinder the tickling sensation.

Then, I tried to automate the mechanism of tickling.

Tickling myself.

Unfortunately, tickling myself didn't quite work. More testing should be done to see if this works when other people use the machine to tickle you, whether it works when you close your eyes, and whether unspecified time delays or more unpredictable mechanisms induce the tickling sensation. 

In later iterations, I would also make the movements of the fingers more forceful.

Before doing the fingers, I also tried making a tickle gun, with a feather releasing to tickle after a delay when the trigger is pulled (like a Jack in the box). However, I found that feathers don't work well on many parts of the body to tickle and usually requires bare skin.

The idea with this exhibit is to get users to think critically about perception and how the brain can be tricked. Even if the exhibit "doesn't work" for some people because they're not ticklish, I think it poses a thought provoking question and perhaps even experiments to try themselves. Perhaps it'd start a few tickling wars as well between siblings.