TOBE: Tangible Out-of-Body Experience

TL;DR

TOBE is a toolkit that creates tangible avatars displaying live physiological data, enabling users to reflect on their inner states and fostering applications in education, healthcare, and social interaction.

Contribution

It introduces a novel toolkit for creating tangible representations of physiological signals, validated through co-design and real-world demonstrations.

Findings

Users can visualize their physiological states with Tobe.

Tobe facilitates synchronization and shared experiences between users.

The toolkit is acceptable and engaging in a museum setting.

Abstract

We propose a toolkit for creating Tangible Out-of-Body Experiences: exposing the inner states of users using physiological signals such as heart rate or brain activity. Tobe can take the form of a tangible avatar displaying live physiological readings to reflect on ourselves and others. Such a toolkit could be used by researchers and designers to create a multitude of potential tangible applications, including (but not limited to) educational tools about Science Technologies Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and cognitive science, medical applications or entertainment and social experiences with one or several users or Tobes involved. Through a co-design approach, we investigated how everyday people picture their physiology and we validated the acceptability of Tobe in a scientific museum. We also give a practical example where two users relax together, with insights on how Tobe helped them to synchronize their signals and share a moment.