softCry toy (parent-alert system)
Soft Circuits for Non-verbal Communication (collaboration) Anthony Kharrat
SoftCry is a parent-alert system disguised as a child’s toy.
Unlike the standard child alert system, this toy allows the child to communicate an intense emotion (e.g., fever, nightmare, tummy ache) with the use of a hug.
The softCry system is used during sleep time. Through a hug-sensitive fluffy object (the toy), it connects wirelessly to a tricolor LED structure in the parents’ bedroom to send alert signals across.
As the child squeezes the toy in their sleep or when awoken, the LED light changes colors from blue to red according to the intensity of the squeezing, indicating levels of agitation, anxiety or distress.
precedents behavior design
precedents child alert systems