Cuddly

Abstract

We are surrounded by soft objects such as plush toys, cushions etc. in our daily lives: people often hug soft objects when they are feeling emotional such as while watching movies, or they tend to punch or throw objects when they are feeling frustrated. From the psychological point of view, soft objects can highly influence people's lives and behavior [Ackermann et al. 1999]. Research shows that it can help reduce stress as well as increase effectiveness. Because of that, soft objects are often used in different fields such as medical therapy, communication, gaming purposes etc. Our research group has also created FuwaFuwa [Sugiura et al. 2011], a sensing module which uses soft object as an interface in the past.