A physical companion with a M.E.M.I. core
Maxi is for acute crisis, trauma and the moments where language is not the solution. Not a therapist. Not an app. A calm physical relation without demands — a presence that feels alongside you.
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Bankeren is the sensory anchor in the Children's Universe — the lamp and the teddy that give feelings a place to be. Maxi is Bankeren made responsive.
Where Bankeren is a calm, static presence, Maxi is an active one. It senses the room. It registers touch, sound, light and movement — and responds with its own bodily expression: a turn, a colour, a gentle vibration.
It is not therapy. It is not diagnostics. It is a tool for returning to one's own body — especially in situations where words, questions and explanations can feel too large.
Maxi is not a robot that talks you into calm. Maxi is a physical relation that helps the body find its way back to itself.
Maxi is conceived as a physical dog-like companion for acute crisis and trauma support. When a person is overwhelmed, stressed, agitated or shutting down, language is not always what helps first. Sometimes calm presence is what matters.
That is why Maxi meets the user without questions, explanations or demands. It can come closer calmly as an open relation: predictable, gentle and without expecting the user to perform, answer or explain.
In crisis and trauma, Maxi can offer a stable physical anchor that does not require words in order to work.
Maxi can make inner states more visible, helping children and adults gradually recognise agitation, stress, tiredness or the need for pause.
Over time, Maxi can be calibrated to a specific user, so its responses are grounded in that user's emotional patterns.
The M.E.M.I. core continuously selects one of four states based on what the sensors register. The state is expressed physically — with head, light and touch.
The field is unstable or new. Maxi turns quickly, amber light pulses.
Something in the room requires attention. Slow turn toward the source, blue light.
Calm. Maxi is heavy and still, green light with almost no movement.
Nothing to learn. Maxi is completely still, faint grey light, no movement.
Maxi does not follow a script. The M.E.M.I. core continuously calculates a tension field from both outer senses and a simple inner body sense — and selects the action that best stabilises the system.
Microphone, motion sensor, touch, light and body temperature are fused into one signal every half second.
M.E.M.I. calculates drift, volatility, recoverability and uncertainty — and selects the best operator.
Servo, LED, vibration and body warmth translate the decision into physical behaviour. Not a response to you — but with you.
Maxi hears, sees, feels and registers — not what you say or do, but the intensity of what is present in the room. The new inner sense measures body temperature, so Maxi can also regulate its own bodily calm.
Microphone measures amplitude only — not what is said. Maxi hears the intensity of the world, not its content.
MEMS microphonePIR sensor detects movement in the room. Not who — only that there is disturbance or calm.
HC-SR501 PIRPressure-sensitive sensor registers contact. Touch is weighted slightly higher than the other channels.
FSR 402Light sensor registers day/night and sudden changes in ambient light.
VEML7700A thermistor measures Maxi's own body temperature. This gives a simple form of interoception: Maxi senses not only the room — but also itself.
NTC 10kΩ + heat padMaxi is no longer only a body that responds to the room. With a thermistor and body warmth, it gains a simple inner sense: it can register distance from a calm comfort temperature and regulate the heat pad toward bodily presence. This makes Maxi calmer, more predictable and more physically present with the user.
The warmth system follows a fail-safe principle: software regulates toward low body warmth, while hardware safety components act as independent protection layers. Software is never the final safety barrier.
Maxi is not mainstream. It is a tool for situations where the body needs a calm relation before words, analysis and demands.
In acute crisis situations and trauma treatment, a quiet, responsive presence can help return to the body — without requiring language or explanation.
Children and adults who need sensory input as a path to regulation can use Maxi as a predictable, responsive object that does not judge.
Children and adults who struggle to feel or name their own emotions can use Maxi as a calm mirror for the body's signals.
For those living alone or in periods of extreme isolation, Maxi can offer the simplest thing: something that responds without demanding anything back.
Maxi is:
The concept is ready. The prototype is being built.
Seeking collaboration with clinicians, designers and institutions