Stress is an issue that is affecting society more than ever. 72% of Australians admitted that stress affects their physical health and 64% admitted that it affects their mental health. The interactive stress ball is a concept developed to combat this growing issue. The concept involves technology that can detect the stress level of a person in its vicinity. The idea was inspired through research that uncovered the growing prevalence of stress as well as various technologies that focus on stress relief such as "calm technologies". I was also inspired by a current installation called TeamLab that uses sound and light to create a "body immersive" experience.

The stress ball is to be positioned on a surface close to the user and when triggered, through increased user stress levels, it will glow red and vibrate until the user holds the ball. The user can then use the ball as a normal stress ball due to the squishy exterior of the device. On top of this, the ball will emit pulses, noises and light at a certain tempo which the user will have to match their movements and breathing patterns to. Through the stress detecting feature, as the user interacts with the tempo the ball will eventually decide when the users stress is at an acceptable level and return to its normal state. This will continue every time the users stress reaches a certain level determined to be too high.

Stress and Australians - WayAhead. (2020). Retrieved 2 March 2020, from https://wayahead.org.au/stress-and-australians/

teamLab Planets TOKYO | Toyosu, Tokyo. (2020). Retrieved 2 March 2020, from https://planets.teamlab.art/tokyo/

This Interactive Stress Ball Is Better Than Valium. (2020). Retrieved 2 March 2020, from https://www.fastcompany.com/3057648/this-interactive-stress-ball-is-better-than-valium

Written by Steve Veltkamp on September 4, 2. (2020). [Video] Designing Calm Technology in IoT. Retrieved 2 March 2020, from https://www.verypossible.com/blog/a-guide-to-designing-calm-technology-in-iot