WUF
Digital Therapy Dog
Imagine a therapeutic Tamagochi!
WUF is a digital pocket buddy that helps neurodivergent children manage their emotions effectively through oscillating vibration guided breath-work.
Skills: Ideation, User Research, Prototyping
14 Weeks | 2023
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
Sometimes, when emotions get overwhelming, all we need is a friend to breathe with!
Social Emotional Learning is a strengths-based, developmental process involving various social activities, scheduled practices, and guided communication.
SEL helps improve:
Ability to bounce back from strong emotions
Faster to adapt to difficult situations
Better identifying and communicating emotions
Enhance long term well being
Enrichment of personal relationships
But the problem is, neurodivergent children can really struggle with Social Emotional Learning.
They can face unique challenges and obstacles that impede their progress such as:
Social Engagement
Struggling with attention engagement with people and tasks.
Emotional Regulation
Typically having a difficult time with emotional regulation.
Sensory Sensitivities
Their sensory needs can outweigh their desire to participate in social settings. This can lead to hyper fixation and difficulty re-engaging.
How might we help neurodiverse children develop healthy rhythms of emotional self-regulation?
By creating a tool (friend) that can anticipate, comfort, and guide neurodivergent children through mindfullness.
WUF acts as a
Digital Therapy Dog!
It all starts when the child becomes emotionally disregulated.
As most children do, they will either cry, scream, breath heavily or do it all at once!
WUF will hear the signs of emotional disregulation and wake up.
To capture the attention of the child, WUF will begin to vibrate.
Once the child actually holds WUF in their hands, WUF will begin to vibrate in theraputic breathing patterns.
It's digital face will display a breathing animation as a visual guide.
The combination of vibrations, visual cues, and soothing textures help the child to sync their breathing and give them something else to focus on!
Before you know it, your child's sour mood has shifted! Once WUF confirms the child is stable, it'll turn off automatically, ready for the next time it needs to wag it's tail!
How Does WUF Work?
When you're upset, it'll know!
Distress Recognition
WUF automatically recognizes
distress by actively listening to auditory triggers and activates accordingly.
BONES AI
Auditory learning model comprising of soundbites of catalogued emotional distress.
What Can WUF Do?
It comes with a few tricks!
Mindful Haptics
WUF vibrates in various patterns to help guide mindfulness based breathing exercises.
Data Tricks
At user's discretion, WUF can record user data and inject it into it's training set, personalizing itself to each user.
But How Does WUF Help?
Slow Down Time
Usually when I feel myself getting upset, I try to count to 10. If that doesn't work? I count to 20!
An important aspect of self-regulation is the ability to simply "take a moment" during emotional distress.
I brainstormed different ways to guide neurodivergent children through that behavior.
I decided on using oscillating vibrations because it was the most intuitive, discrete, and accessible solution.
Form
Exploration
One day I was walking through town when I spotted a GREAT looking rock.
It was so smooth and naturally calming. I slipped it into my pocket so I can analyze further.
I work well with my hands, so I turned to 3D ideation with foam blocks to quickly get a feel for ergonomics.
User Testing
Finding out what shape best resonates with children ages 2 - 7!
Insights
The smooth pebble form was the most popular with the test group.
The familiar shape with subtle surfacing seemed to bring a natural playfulness and an instant connection.
The moment I saw those little smiles, I knew I had something in my hands!
I also noticed the children instinctively rubbing the surface of this pebble form, informing a need for tactile materiality.
I translated the original WUF concept to the simpler pebble-like form.
Further research identified how WUF would be constructed in a mass manufacturing setting, from the internal components to the outer materials.
Research Insights
What I Discovered
Children with ASD struggle with attention engagement with people.
Neurodiverse children typically have a difficult time with emotional regulation.
Sensory needs can outweigh the desire to participate in social settings.
Children with ASD can be very object oriented.
Visual feedback tends to peak interest.
ASD parents tend to rely on screens to occupy children's attention.
Numbers, letters, colors, and shapes captivates attention.
Design Solutions
How I Solved It
WUF automatically turns off to re-engage the child to the social setting at hand.
WUF employs breathing and mindfulness techniques to teach emotional regulation.
WUF's silicone coating is designed to be touch -sensory calming.
WUF fits into the hands of any child and can be taken anywhere.
WUF features an OLED screen with animated expressions.
WUF's digital display and its content is educative and non-addicting.
WUF is simple and versatile in shape and calming in color.
Prototyping
Journey
I gave myself a quick crash course in coding and electrical engineering and created a model with an animated display and oscillating vibration motor.
Proof of Concept
With my solution being so tech heavy, I wanted to go further than just an appearance model.
This model was impactful. It was the right amount of tactile feedback and function that brought the whole concept alive!
Turning Restrictions
into Features
I used an Arduino Uno to run the display and vibration motor.
To hide the board, I quickly designed a charging dock for WUF itself.
Since WUF is designed for children, the charging dock acts as a “doggy bed” with a friendly fabric cover and soft-touch silicone contact points, matching WUF’s body.
Parent App
Designing with Privacy, Transparency, Versatility.
Usage Calendar
Response Customizer
Training Data Hub
Placing a device that's "always listening" in the hands of children may raise a few eyebrows.
WUF has been designed with Data Justice in mind. Its systems are created to give both users and caretakers ultimate control and peace of mind.
Flexible Learning Model
One-Way Transparent System
Usage Calendar
Bones AI
How does WUF's AI work?
BONES
(AI Microcontroller)
Advancements in AI and smaller chips enable edge computing. WUF leverages this to provide complex learning models on local devices, ensuring data privacy while enhancing speed and digital dexterity.
WUF's AI, runs on an eLLM (empathic Large Language Model). It's training data comprises of a decentralized database of audio clips of emotional distress indicators (crying, yelling, irregular breathing, etc.).
Exploded View
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