Heatcraft: Designing playful experiences with ingestible sensors via localized thermal stimuli

Ingestible sensors are pill-like sensors that people swallow mainly for medical purposes. We propose that ingestible sensors also offer unique opportunities to facilitate intriguing bodily experiences in a playful manner. To explore this, we present “HeatCraft”, a two-player system that translates the user’s body temperature measured by an ingestible sensor to localized thermal stimuli delivered through a waist belt equipped with heating pads. We conducted a study with 16 participants. The study revealed three design themes (Integration of body and technology, Integration of internal body and outside world, and Integration of play and life) along with some open challenges. In summary, this work contributes knowledge to the future design of playful experiences with ingestible sensors.