Soft-bodied creature for enriched SEL engagement

This exploration is an extension of the work started in our Smart Materials exploration and looked at designing a companion that would endear itself to a child. It was aimed at encouraging healthy self soothing in the child through vibrational feedback and has the ability to respond when it's being interacted with. In addition it's self contained on board cataloging allows for post reflection on the actions the child performed. In this Research-Through-Design process we created several iterations and focus tested, workshopped and eventually deployed them into the field with children that were actively in Social and Emotional Learning courses. This was a multiyear deployment and production of the creature involved Peter Cottrell, Alessia Cecchet, Ella Degan, and Katherine Isbister at UCSC. We partnered with UCL and CfC to deploy the creature to the children.