Stories of Herbs is a visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory VR experience around the theme of herbs. Our goal is to advance the understanding of how smell can be used actively in our interactions within VR. Specifically, we use physical objects – a mortar and pestle - with which participants actively create smell as part of their action in a corresponding world within VR. In the current experiment participants crush mint leaves, and corresponding virtual leaves guide their attention to an animated story about mint. We examined how enjoyment, recollection of the story, the experienced connection between physical and virtual, and the perceived role of smell were influenced by crushing real mint leaves or odorless paper ‘leaves’. Initial findings from an exploratory study with 15 participants show that the smell was a positive element in the experience, that participants in both the odor and odorless groups experienced a strong connection between the physical and digital elements, and that while some participants felt that smell helped them remember the story, the smell may have contributed to a sensory load that took attention away from the story.

Virtual communication has turned into a necessity in current culture. Although major technological breakthroughs were made in the past decade, virtual communication platforms do not prioritize the emotional connection between people. Shmoodle is an online platform in which two participants communicate orally while doodling with each other virtually on a shared canvas. Designed to favor emotional exchange over efficiency and clarity, Shmoodle integrates the users’ facial expressions into the conversations via control over the brush color and responds to synchronous facial expressions via the canvas background color. Initial testing with three pairs of users revealed that drawing and exploring the effects of the platform together gave them a heightened sense of connection and a playful disposition.

In simple terms, interpersonal motor synchronization (IMS) means people moving together at the same time. This type of time-based interaction and coordination is prevalent in a multitude of daily s...

We present an embodied conversational assistant (CA) designed specifically for a learning space. We first relate the attributes of our learning space and the needs and opportunities that led to the creation of our CA. We then describe its main qualities, including the mutual assistance designed between the CA and its users. We present a visual narrative of the process of designing and implementing the CA prototype, including scenario building, form making, interaction design, engineering, and textile design. We describe the working prototype and initial trials with students. Finally, we discuss the rich potential of designing embodied CAs for specific learning spaces.

We present “Plantimus”, an external sensory enhancement device that enables children to ‘hear’ plants. By embedding a digital layer on top of the physical world, we encourage children to step-out and reflect upon our inherent connection to nature as well as our responsibility towards it. Aimed to develop abstract thinking and self-exploration, the Plantimus is a two-piece device resembling a stethoscope, that generates different sounds when directed towards plants. The design process, as well as the technical implementation are described in detail. Insights from the initial user testing are presented, showing that children react positively to the experience of ‘hearing’ plants; and that the experience is also intriguing to adults. Future work involves advancing the plant recognition method and the specificity of the plant-sound relationship and testing the device within new scenarios of use.

We present "Sew-Flow", a craft interpretation of the Digital Game "Flow Free" that is played on smartphones and computers. In Sew-Flow the screen is replaced by a fabric interface that is played by a process of sewing with conductive yarn. Feedback to the game play is presented by thermo-chromic colors that gradually appear. We lay out the motivations for slowing down the game experience and moving it into the material world. The crafting of the game elements and the game experience are described in detail, as well as the technological implementation. Insights from initial trials are described, showing that children and adults perceived the game in different ways. Future directions involve solving a number of challenges involving the thermo-chromic materials and conductive yarn.

We describe a novel controller for a remote controlled (R/C) car. The controller is a small car-shaped toy which is used for controlling the larger toy car. In this avatar-inspired relationship between controller and controlled, operations performed on the small car are implemented by the larger car. The cArVATAR addresses limitations of the traditional R/C, and is proposed as an alternative allowing younger children to use R/C toys. Details of the prototype and observations from an exploratory study performed with five children aged 6 to 7 are presented, and possible applications to other products and domains are discussed.

Cubes is a collection of 20 objects combing a single input with a single output. Cubes celebrates the potential of simple tangible interactions for engagement and pleasure. By fixing the form of these interactive objects into the simplest one: a cube, we can explore affordances and behavior in a "lab-like" environment. A new aesthetic language is created by making the cubes transparent, equally sized and self-contained.

An increasing number of interactive consumer products make use of the auditory channel. Consequently, sound has become an important part of the interaction designer's palette. Nevertheless, sound is a difficult medium for nonexperts to sketch in. We propose Vocal Sketching as a methodology for addressing sounding design, alleviating the challenges inherent for non-experts when thinking and communicating about sound and sounding objects in the early stages of design. The method was tested in a workshop with 35 participants, who, working in groups, used only their voices to sketch sonic interactions for three object props. Observations and results from a post-workshop questionnaire study show this methodology to be feasible and enjoyable, and applicable to the design process even without prior vocal training. The emerging pros and cons of this method, as well as results relating to social comfort in using the voice and group strategies for using multiple voices, are discussed. Further work should include a comparative study of this methodology and other sonic sketching strategies.

Pixel Materiali ("Physical Pixels" in Italian) is a physical play environment which enables children to create pixel-like animations, and through this process to understand the basics of digital images and animation. Pixel Materiali is designed as a simple, highly intuitive system in which children interact with physical tiles while technology - in the form of camera and computer - is evident and understandable, but remains in the periphery of the experience. This paper reports the motivations, design considerations and outcome of using Pixel Materiali with children.