ThermoPixels

Abstract

Figure 1: ThermoPixels components: a) liquid crystal sheet b) rub-and-reveal sheets c) thermochromic paints d) heating pad e) nichrome wire f) conductive fabric g) Peltier element h) insulation materials i) GSR sensor and Arduino and j) support tools ABSTRACTMuch research has shown the potential of affective interfaces for reflection on, and understanding of bodily responses. Yet, people find it difficult to engage with, and understand their biodata which they have limited prior experience with. Building on affective interfaces and material-centered design, we developed ThermoPixels, a toolkit including thermochromic and heating materials, as well as galvanic skin response sensors for creating representations of physiological arousal. Within 10 workshops, 20 users with no expertise in biosensors or thermochromic materials created personalized representations of physiological arousal and its real-time changes using the toolkit. We report on participants' material exploration, their experience of creating shapes and the use of colors for emotional awareness and regulation. We discuss embodied exploration and creative expression, the value of technology in emotion regulation and its social context, and the importance of understanding material limitations for affective sensemaking.

Exploring Personalized Vibrotactile and Thermal Patterns for Affect Regulation

“…Systems that integrate biosensors support the important function of providing historic or real-time biosensory feedback on users' physiological states measured in terms of arousal or valence. While relaxation or mindfulness have also been supported through neurofeedback [11,79], common biosensors capturing aspects of the autonomous nervous system include heart rate variability (HRV) or galvanic skin response (GSR) whose feedback is often provided in visual [77,96,97] or haptic modalities [9,98].…”

“…In contrast, users' engagement in the design of such mappings has been limitedly explored. A few exceptions include new design methods for people to codesign personalized flavors for emotional communication or regulation [24,25], or toolkits for end-users to assemble their own personalized affective interfaces targeting anxiety [84], or emotional awareness [97]. Key findings from these approaches include strong benefits from involving users in the design process such as users' increased agency and control, improved understanding of the inner workings of technology, and more importantly, the creation of personalized interfaces for their specific needs.…”

“…Key findings from these approaches include strong benefits from involving users in the design process such as users' increased agency and control, improved understanding of the inner workings of technology, and more importantly, the creation of personalized interfaces for their specific needs. However, such work has seldom focused on users' generation of personalized mappings with only a few exceptions here have looked mostly at visual modality in order to map changes of arousal to visual interfaces [97].…”

“…More importantly, however, such individual differences have impacted participants' preferences for their designed haptic patterns, in terms of low-high vibration frequency and intensity, and warm-cool temperatures. In addition, despite the value of accounting for such preferences through personalization and IKEA effect [80], limited HCI work has involved users in the design of affective interfaces [84] and those that did, have focused mostly on visual modality [97]. In contrast, previous work on haptic patterns for affect regulation has paid limited attention to the personalization of both vibrotactile and thermal patterns.…”

“…While both affective technologies, supporting either emotional awareness or regulation, rely on increasing one's awareness and control of physiological responses, the mapping of such responses onto the interface elements such as colors or vibration patterns is usually provided by researchers and guided by design principles such as familiarity, ambiguity, and balance [87]. The value of users' engagement in the design of these mappings has just started to be explored for affective interfaces targeting emotional awareness [97]. However, we know little of how people may benefit from engagement in the design of vibration-or temperature-based tactile patterns for affective interfaces targeting regulation, and what design principles may underpin them.…”