Tobe

Abstract

We propose a toolkit for creating Tangible Out-of-Body Experiences: exposing the inner states of users using physiological signals such as heart rate or brain activity. Tobe can take the form of a tangible avatar displaying live physiological readings to reflect on ourselves and others. Such a toolkit could be used by researchers and designers to create a multitude of potential tangible applications, including (but not limited to) educational tools about Science Technologies Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and cognitive science, medical applications or entertainment and social experiences with one or several users or Tobes involved. Through a co-design approach, we investigated how everyday people picture their physiology and we validated the acceptability of Tobe in a scientific museum. We also give a practical example where two users relax together, with insights on how Tobe helped them to synchronize their signals and share a moment.

Physio-Stacks: Supporting Communication with Ourselves and Others via Tangible, Modular Physiological Devices

“…While the current subset of physiological sensors implemented in this specific project is limited to breathing and heart rate, two sensors that are already sufficient to explore the system in social setting and see the emergence of rich interactions [28,29], we are in the process of adding electrodermal activity, muscle activity and brain activity (through existing headware) as additional input. Combined with new output (heat, scents), these developments can be use to broaden the range of applications -e.g.…”

“…Examples of devices combining Physiology and Tangiblility include tangible puppets to share heart-beats [4,5], explore brain activity [26,27], or customizable physiological representations [29]. Another alternative includes the usage of wearables, such as BodyVis, a body suit exposing physiological information [61], or Breeze [28], a connected pendant that supports communication via shared breathing as vibration.…”

“…Tangible Physiological devices for introspection have been explored in the literature (e.g., [5,29,69]), frequently in the shape of a literal or metaphorical externalization. In this line, we used the bricks to create a customizable avatar that can display the user's current breathing patterns in real time using one or more modalities (biofeedback).…”

“…While this application was very much inspired by one of our previous project, Tobe, where we used spatial augmented reality to build tangible proxies for physiological activity [29], the Physio-Bricks brought more versatility to the design and facilitated the construction of the devices. Figure 9: The avatar can be used as real-time multi-modal biofeedback, or to observe recorded sessions.…”

Sprite Catcher

“…Baumer's [2] review of self-reflection research in HCI defines education, design processes and/or self-knowledge as the three areas of focus that have been covered. Amongst those that target selfknowledge there are only a handful of studies that have covered tangible interaction modalities -Emoti-meter [14], MyInnerLife [6] InternetOfSoftThings [8], and TOBE [7]. Amongst these we could only find two examples of projects -Emoti-meter and InternetOfSoftThings, where the goal has been to design for mental health issues specifically.…”