Soft-bodied Fidget Toys: A Materials Exploration

We present an exploration of e-textile/soft materials that can be used to capture fidget traces, while providing the touch sensations that fidgeters report seeking out in everyday fidget objects [3,4,5]. We created two soft-bodied "sampler" objects with a range of smart fidgeting affordances, which we describe in this paper, along with a general outline of the range of properties explored. This work extends exploration of a novel design space introduced in [4], toward the end goal of creating smart fidget objects that aid self-regulation. We include an overview of our design process, present some preliminary insights about materials that support this design space, and conclude with current and future directions for the work.