Children's haptic experiences of tangible artifacts varying in hardness

Abstract

In this paper we describe our investigations on the role of material hardness in the haptic experience of tangible artifacts. Without seeing the artifacts children had to rank their experience on a scale of two antonyms while touching and holding these artifacts. In this experiment it was shown that children have no problem ranking hardness. Two groups could be identified: soft artifacts were found to be cute, speedy and warm, e.g., and hard artifacts boring, sad and old-fashioned. We think that paying attention to this factor in the design of tangible user interfaces for children can improve their experience. Copyright 2008 ACM.