Tuftie
Exploring Hand-tufted Yarn as Tangible Interface for Children’s Creative Play through Physical-Digital Simulation with the Design of an Electronic-embedded Assembly Kit
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Project team: Youtian Duan, Skye Gao, Rainee Wang, Lingdong Huang, Quincy Kuang​​​
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Role: Mechanical design
Abstract
Fostering creativity in children is essential for cognitive development and preparing them for an increasingly automated world. However, existing tangible tools designed to enhance creativity often impose limitations, lack mechanisms for reusing creative outputs, and are made from materials that are not well-suited for children.
We introduce Tuftie, a modular, textile-based interface that seamlessly integrates tangible and digital creation, expanding the possibilities for creative expression. This construction kit empowers children to build interactive assemblies using electronics-embedded tufted yarn modules, bridging physical and digital play. Our ongoing research explores the child-friendly materiality of tufted yarn and how Tuftie supports a range of creative activities, including storytelling, toy design, and tactile learning.
Looking ahead, we aim to extend Tuftie’s capabilities with AI-enhanced educational tools, making it accessible for visually impaired children and adult learners. By broadening its applications, Tuftie has the potential to transform creative learning across diverse contexts, fostering deeper engagement through technology.
Introduction
Tangibility is crucial in enhancing children's creativity by making abstract ideas more concrete and encouraging innovative thinking (Liang 2021). In Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), numerous projects leverage tangible interfaces to boost creative activities. For instance, TADCAD offers a tangible, gestural platform for creativity via 3D modeling and printing (Te 2015). For visually impaired children, tangible tools are essential, enabling creativity through tactile and auditory experiences, as demonstrated by music programming blocks (Sabuncuoglu 2020). Similarly, the Lily Arduino explores creative engagement in computer science education through computational textiles (Buechley et al. 2008). These projects highlight the broad application of tangibility across different creative contexts and materials.
Tangible storytelling allows children to use physical props to represent and record story elements, turning them into active story authors (Liang 2021). However, these systems often offer a limited selection of tangible components for creation. For example, PlushPal, a web-based platform, enables programming audio-responsive toys with custom gestures (Yumiko Murai), but its limited gesture library restricts children's creative expression. Addressing this, TellTable introduces live input and generative content, allowing for the inclusion of real-world photos and drawings in stories (Cao et al. 2010). Additionally, platforms like KidPad, StoryBank, and StoryMat encourage sharing and collaborative storytelling in both digital and physical spaces (Hourcade et al. 2002) This highlights a need for a modular interface that combines physical and digital elements, enhancing children's creative possibilities.
Mechanical design
The interior layer includes a bracket that serves two primary purposes. Firstly, it provides a solid foundation for the soft textile materials, enabling better cross-assembly. Secondly, it offers a secure mounting point for the circuitry. This modular bracket is constructed from minimal and thin PLA materials, resulting in a lightweight and compact design. When the brackets are stacked and assembled, they become more sturdy, which is further reinforced by screws. This compact design allows for mass production.
Final prototype
Process
