Hani-xerciser (temporarily titled) is a project with personal motivation and enthusiasm to promote my cat, Hani’s both physical and mental wellness.
Hani was adopted 2003 fall, when my wife and I were living in an apartment at East Harlem area.  The reason that we wanted a ‘cat’, not specifically Hani, was very practical and realistic - ever growing numbers of mice at home. The mice were rapidly hatched from a chinese restaurant on first floor and we realized that having cat is only solution after numerous trial of unpleasant mouse hunting. Love at first sight, I thought that expression was only for human being. Me and my wife immediately fell in love with six-month old tuxedo cat with white paws and jaw, started to baby him as if he was our baby. He was very healthy, active and full of curiosity.  First half year with him, I spent ‘reasonable’ amount of money to cat toys and figured that Hani wouldn’t keep playing with same toy for a long time.  My first ‘big’ investment was Turbo Scratcher toy.  No sooner had I opened the box, he already was glued on it. The toy consist of two parts: a scratcher in center and rotating mice around the scratcher.
The first version which was titled “Hani, get her!”, that I have done in Networked Objects class consists of both physical interface  (motorized toy with networking module and multiple IP cameras mounted in my house) and networking devices for me to observe him while the interaction is happening. I am able to see him through IP Cameras installed on the wall, and php enables me to send few key inputs that makes toy moving up and down. With Hani-xerciser, my cat  can have fun playing with physical device, as well as maintain his health reacting to ‘suddenly moving’ toys when he is alone at home. To me, exploring Hani-xerciser will let me feel less worried about my cat’s being ‘bored’ and even gaining more weight from lack of exercise.
What I have learned  from this project were: first, cats easily get bored with toys with no interaction.  Many static toys such as fluppy mouse, laser pointer, or cat charmer require someone’s control over the toy, and this means that I should ‘be with my cat’ whenever he wants to play and that is impossible. When I tested my project remotely from school, I could see him approaching doubtfully at first, and started blotting a fluppy mouse attached to the string. When I started moving the toy up and down by clicking through web interface, he seemed …….
To make the second version more engaging and interactive, I would like to use the stairs as main place for Hani to work out. Knowing him as picky to find something interesting to him, I came to conclusion that he never got sick of reacting to clicking sound from mail slot when a mailman drops mails regularly.  This happens everyday around 12 to 2 pm, and I can see that Hani’s ear moving (like radar) towards the front door meaning his favorite mailman has arrived there and is about to drop mails. Next move is rapidly approaching to the mail slot and he jumps and tries to grab mails as the mailman drops them.  From top of the stairs, I always enjoy seeing this short event thinking Hani might have lost some calories by doing this ‘game’. This game between a post man and a cat could be replicated in ……
On second version, Hani-xerciser will include a more portable, mobile version of the graphic interface. It will be an iPhone application which is the important because of the ‘immediacy’ it will provide for users to acquire the ‘viewer’ whenever they need to see their pets, and ‘controller’ for users to play with their pets.  For example, launching the control panel will show both camera viewer and controller graphic panel along side.