The brief set the team out to explore an experience for people missing their sense of touch. While senses like sight and hearing have a lot of general awareness, the absence of touch is harder to understand or even imagine. The team focused on a very specific audience: children. 

We often take our five senses for granted – what happens when you are missing a vital sense in your journey of learning as a kid? 

Introducing Touch Buddy: a heat sensor disguised as a friendly finger puppet. Touch Buddy warns kids of danger when they come across household objects that are dangerous to touch. Through fun nudges, it hopes to teach kids over time so they develop their own sense of safety. Its funny caricature makes it a wanted companion rather than just another source of “no” coming from the adult world. 

This project used the video medium to share a basic prototype with a toddler to get her reaction. Through this process of video prototyping, many insights arised to inspire further iterations. Pablo and Lisa learned a lot working with a 3 year old, including having to repair the prototype on the spot.