Fuzzy Bird Helps Me Calm Down and Connect: Touch with Restraint in an Interactive Object for Children with Autism

Stella Boess, Astrid Smoorenburg, Minsung Kim, Max Rijken, Thomas Latcham, Sophie Kelder

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

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Abstract

This paper explores the nascent concept of touch with restraint in the design of an interactive object. The design was developed to support children on the autism spectrum in social interaction and to facilitate a feeling of social connectedness. Throughout a constructive design case, the desired nature and interaction style of this interactive object emerged. An object that is characterized by touch with restraint facilitates adoption as a transitional object and mirrors passively and minimally the actions of a user. The design concept and prototype Fuzzy Bird showed the effectiveness of the concept in a user test. This strong concept contributes to the debate of how we come to live with interactive technologies, by drawing attention to the possibility of self-imposing limits on how much interactive technologies do and being respectful toward the human interactions they help facilitate.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement- Sense and Sensitivity, DeSForM 2017
Subtitle of host publicationSense and Sensitivity, DeSForM 2017
EditorsM. Bruns Alonso, E. Ozcan
PublisherIntech
Pages79-87
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)978-953-51-3588-3
ISBN (Print)978-953-51-3587-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
EventConference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement-Sense and Sensitivity ,DeSForM 2017 - Delft/Eindhoven, Netherlands
Duration: 17 Oct 201720 Oct 2017

Conference

ConferenceConference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement-Sense and Sensitivity ,DeSForM 2017
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityDelft/Eindhoven
Period17/10/1720/10/17

Keywords

  • touch with restraint
  • autism
  • strong concept
  • constructive design research

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