Expanded Boundaries: Art and Non-human Essence as Playful Inspirations for Children's Prosthetics

Abstract

There is an important gap in Assistive Technology related to the multiple capabilities of exploratory creativity, as with multi-aesthetic and inter-mediatic surfaces, especially in the design and development of child prosthetics. This in-progress research explores creative interactions and combinations of art and digital fabrication to design playful prosthetics for children's upper limbs. In order to do so, we are using feline animal life as inspiration and as a ludic premise to engagement through playfulness. With this artistic exploration in the scope of tangible and embodied interfaces, we seek to contribute to improve and incorporate engagement and fantasy through playful interfaces, ultimately transforming a perceived difference into empowerment of a child's self-esteem, awareness and imagination.