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A squishy cow udder that you squeeze to the beat Watch on Make:
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A squishy cow udder that you squeeze to the beat

Karina Chowon Make:
Original

Karina Chow cast a silicone udder with four teats, each one a button for a rhythm game. The sensor that finally worked was a force-sensitive resistor, not the magnets.

Build sheet
Method
Silicone casting over 3D-printed mold
Sensing
Force-sensitive resistors
Silicone
Smooth-On Dragon Skin 20
Time
2–3 days
Can I build this?Intermediate · AI 3/5 · $60–120
Difficulty
Intermediate
AI-buildability
3/5

AI can write the microcontroller and rhythm game code and help with FSR wiring, but the mold design, silicone casting and sensor integration are hands-on work.

Time
A weekend
Cost
$60–120
Parts
Force-sensitive resistorsDragon Skin 20 silicone3D-printed mold
Tools
3D printervinyl glovesmixing cupsmold release spray
Starter prompt

Based on "A squishy cow udder that you squeeze to the beat" on Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/a-squishy-cow-udder-that-you-squeeze-to-the-beat

Write Arduino firmware for a board with four force-sensitive resistors read through analog pins, and have it send a keypress over USB for each sensor when the reading crosses a threshold. Add a debounce so a squeeze registers once. Keep the key mapping in a config constant so I can change which key each teat sends.

Estimates based on the original write-up. How AI-buildability is scored. Building with an AI assistant? Connect it to Afterware (free MCP server).

Story

Karina Chow built a miniature cow arcade cabinet for Udder Mayhem, a Rhythm Heaven Fever-style rhythm game. Each of the four teats is a key, and you squeeze them to the beat. The udder itself is Dragon Skin 20 silicone poured into a 3D-printed mold, tinted with Kryolan and Smooth-On pigments until it looks fleshy and fluorescent pink.

She tried conductive fabric, resistive stuffing, a microphone and straw, and Hall effect sensors before settling on force-sensitive resistors. The Hall setup embedded magnets in the silicone and taped sensors inside a metal tube, but the tube drifted after many squeezes and could be felt through the teat. FSRs ended the alignment problems.

If you make soft interfaces, the mold and casting workflow is the transferable part. The 3D-printed shell, insert and teat rods are shared in the project repository, and the Make: article walks through mold release, mixing and demolding step by step.

Resources · 4
Udder model repositorySparkFun SoftPot guideFSR tutorialArduino Keyboard reference
silicone castingforce-sensitive resistor3d printed moldalternative controllersoft controllerrhythm game
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