Tactile sensors play a key role in human-machine interaction (HMI), providing essential tactile measurement capabilities for this field, where their performance directly determines the operational safety and haptic quality of HMI machines. When tactile sensors are applied to human or machine surfaces, their ability to fit comfortably and conform to the curves of the body is a significant challenge to address. Existing stretchable and flexible sensors show excellent adaptive conformability and accuracy. Yet, their fabrication methods usually rely on expensive and specialised equipment and are not accessible to many researchers from the interdisciplinary field of human-computer interaction to implement, customize and deploy. To address this problem, this paper proposes a stretchable pressure sensor of low-cost and fabrication complexity, drawing inspiration from the ancient paper-cutting art of Kirigami. The developed prototype is experimentally tested for its ability to conform to the human body, while being characterized by a high force-detection accuracy, with an average error of 4% in the range of 0 – 1000 g per cell), and the sampling electronics of it has demonstrated effective crosstalk elimination function. The proposed approach also serves as a methodology for rapid fabrication of flexible electronic devices, enabling high-precision continuous force monitoring across both preloaded (e.g., sitting/lying postures) and non-preloaded scenarios (e.g. contact detection).

The Pelvic Chair is a shape-changing chair that touches the pelvic area. Through rhythmic and gentle movements on different parts of the pelvic area, the touch interactions from the Pelvic Chair invite attention to the anatomy, muscles, and connectedness. We present a user study with 14 participants focusing on their experience of being touched by the Pelvic Chair. Through our qualitative analysis of participants experiences, we show that meaningful touch can offer an active approach to sensing the pelvic floor that contributes to increasing somatic literacy - becoming familiar with the pelvic floor, being able to feel and distinguish between tension and relaxation, and establishing new connections between the pelvic floor and the body. Using the Pelvic Chair as a design case we show the potential for technology-initiated touch in providing an intimate and safe way of touching and connecting with the body.

Kuddi is a haptic data physicalisation in the form of a soft pillow which combines 12 inflatable pockets to dynamically touch and be touched in relation to the changing menstruating body. This paper presents the soma design process that led to Kuddi's design, as well as Kuddi's evaluation through an auto-ethnographic approach, where the first author lived with Kuddi for two menstrual cycles. The resulting dataset was analysed by the research team using a narrative-led approach. Based on this analysis, we present five thick descriptions that capture how the experience of living with Kuddi led to a changing relation with menstrual pain. We contribute a design case of a haptic data physicalisation intended to touch the body and discuss how the material and interaction design choices embodied in Kuddi led to data visceralisation - a way of feeling data in ways which promote new somatic knowledge and experience.

Driven by the vision of everyday haptics, the HCI community is advocating for “design touch first” and investigating “how to touch well.” However, a gap remains between the exploratory nature of haptic design and technical reproducibility. We present Shape-Kit, a hybrid design toolkit embodying our “crafting haptics” metaphor. The Shape-Kit analog tool can transduce and amplify (or minify) human touch behaviors into dynamic pin-based haptic sensations through a flexible and long transducer, enabling free-form sensorial exploration of touch across the body. An ad-hoc tracking module captures and digitizes these patterns, while our graphical user interface includes real-time 3D visualization, recording, tuning, and playback functionalities. To showcase a full design cycle, we built a programmable shape display for tangible playback. This demonstration invites attendees to experience how the analog crafting method offers an intuitive entry point for collaborative touch prototyping while excelling at uncovering subtle nuances that shape touch quality and how touch digitization enables touch recording and playback while enhancing reflective creation.

This studio explores methods for prototyping with and for intimate and sexual experiences, focusing on a diversity of bodies and understandings of pleasure. We aim to both explore how to communicate people's somatic (sexual) profiles while engaging in creative making processes. Participants will engage in a full day workshop consisting of three distinct phases: trying out methods for representing somatic experiences, tangible ideation and making, and group reflections. Through these activities, we not only aim to enhance individual awareness of erotic bodies but also share advice and experiences on how to design for sexual experiences from feminist and intersectional perspectives. This studio seeks to promote inclusivity and challenge normative beliefs about sexual bodies, designing for intimacy and contributing to a more equitable discourse on pleasure. computer interaction (HCI); Interactive systems and tools; Interaction design; Interaction design process and methods; Activity centered design.

Digital contraceptives are intimate technologies that support their users, and their partners, in preventing pregnancy. These technologies rely on basal body temperature data to predict ovulation and calculate a fertile window, where there is a risk of pregnancy if partners have unprotected sex. Although their use is shared and relational, these technologies are mainly designed for a primary user — the person who can become pregnant. We turn our attention to secondary users of digital contraception (i.e., sexual partners), specifically, Natural Cycles. We investigate how secondary users are designed for and how primary users imagine them to be. We contribute empirical insights on how secondary users are and are not involved in digital contraception and conclude with three design proposals describing how digital contraception tools could be designed to involve secondary users. We discuss how designing for secondary users of intimate technologies requires balancing their potential as co-users and adversaries. 

Menstrual discomfort is a prevalent, diverse, and cyclical lived experience, impacting everyday lives. However, in HCI, it has been mostly approached as a data point, leaving much unknown on how technologies can care for these experiences. In response, we designed Touchware, a collection of on-body touch probes with pneumatic shape-change and weight components, which invite wearers to engage with and care for their menstrual discomfort. We report on the participatory soma design process of making Touchware and its two-week-long deployment study with 6 participants in a workplace setting. Our data analysis highlights diffuse and lingering qualities of menstrual discomfort, shedding light on how technologies may touch bodies in vulnerable states. We discuss the importance and challenges of designing touch technologies for and with bodies in the moments of menstrual discomfort. We conclude with a reflection on the agency of touch and its potential to support the self-care labour and nurturing the radical normalization of rest.

Feminist research highlights the urgent need to challenge the oppressive design of commercial intimate technologies, particularly how the FemTech industry restricts access to intimate bodily knowledge through paywalls and proprietary systems. Yet, for decades, women and marginalized communities have turned to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) or ‘hacking’ practices to reclaim control over their own gynecology and intimate health, addressing gaps often ignored by medical research and healthcare. Inspired by visual themes from these movements, this pictorial critically explores how designers and HCI researchers might advance DIY approaches to intimate technologies. We exemplify this with reflections from a series of workshops on handmade intimate sensors, and draw out the joyful potential of collaborative making—building alliances, destigmatizing intimate health, and using craft to subvert gender stereotypes. We discuss matters of safety when making together and contribute to ongoing work on building feminist makerspaces. 

How would you feel if you saw an image of yourself doing something you didn’t do? How would you feel knowing said image was created without your consent? For many people, especially women, these questions are not just hypothetical. Technological advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically Generative AI, have made it extremely easy and cheap to generate and distribute (non-consensual) synthetic images and videos that depict real people’s voices, faces, or bodies (i.e., deepfakes). Non-consensual synthetic imagery often depicts intimate and sexually explicit scenarios and is considered a form of sexual abuse. We demonstrate Photo BOO-th, an interactive installation designed to turn the creation of non-consensual intimate imagery into a visceral, creepy experience. Through this experience, we invite attendees to grapple with the questions above, discuss the societal harms associated with creating and distributing non-consensual synthetic imagery, and critique how consent is understood and enacted between people and technology.

Driven by the vision of everyday haptics, the HCI community is advocating for “design touch first” and investigating “how to touch well.” However, a gap remains between the exploratory nature of haptic design and technical reproducibility. We present Shape-Kit, a hybrid design toolkit embodying our “crafting haptics” metaphor, where hand touch is transduced into dynamic pin-based sensations that can be freely explored across the body. An ad-hoc tracking module captures and digitizes these patterns. Our study with 14 designers and artists demonstrates how Shape-Kit facilitates sensorial exploration for expressive haptic design. We analyze how designers collaboratively ideate, prototype, iterate, and compose touch experiences and show the subtlety and richness of touch that can be achieved through diverse crafting methods with Shape-Kit. Reflecting on the findings, our work contributes key insights into haptic toolkit design and touch design practices centered on the “crafting haptics” metaphor. We discuss in-depth how Shape-Kit’s simplicity, though remaining constrained, enables focused crafting for deeper exploration, while its collaborative nature fosters shared sense-making of touch experiences.