With reports stating that 38% of single adults have used an online dating app, it comes as little surprise that a device like Tinder-O-Matic has been created by the Maker community.
A Maker by the name of Andrew Sink had previously built an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) powered InMoov finger and noticed it collecting dust on his desk. He soon thereafter began brainstorming ideas as to how he could increase the utility of this project he worked so arduously on. One day, Sink noticed a friend furiously swiping at his smartphone. He inquired about his friend’s actions, and his friend then broke down the dynamics of the dating app Tinder. Poof! The Tinder-O-Matic was born.
For those unfamiliar with the network, Tinder is a mobile dating application that uses a simple ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ dichotomy to create possible romantic matches. Once reading a person’s profile and perusing their pictures (sourced solely from Facebook, mind you) a user swipes to the left to discard the possible match, or to the right to ‘like’ the individual. If two users both swipe to the right, they then ‘match’ and can begin a text conversation.
Some users, like Sink’s friend, do not care about assessing possible matches and look to game the system and maximize their matches by swiping all accounts to the right. As you can imagine, that can become quite the tedious task. Subsequently, a 3D-printed finger and an ATmega328 powered servo motor, the Tinder-O-Matic can ‘like’ a new profile every four seconds, which leads to the possibility of liking 10,000 accounts in a 12-hour span. That is some serious speed dating!
For more information about the Tinder-O-Matic, you can access Andrew’s SinkHacks blog here.
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