King's College London

Purrble asks ‘how can digital design help us better understand our minds and bodies?’. Visitors have the chance to meet Purrble, the cuddly companion designed to guide emotion regulation for young people struggling with their mental health.

Purrble is a smart toy designed to guide emotion regulation for young people struggling with their mental health. Purrble has a dynamic heartbeat and sensors that respond to touch, enabling anxious users to calm themselves as they soothe their companion. This is one of the technology-enabled mental health interventions being examined by Dr Petr Slovak and team, re-envisioning mental health promotion in children and young people across a range of projects spanning interventions for anxiety, self-harm, parenting and body awareness.

Are you interested in Purrble? Sign up for studies here.

Credits & Supporters

Project team
Dr Petr Slovak, Dr A. Jess Williams, Dr Seray Ibrahim, Nikki Theofanopoulou, Melina Petsolari, Phoebe Staab. Read more about the research group behind Purrble.

Funded by UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship under grant no. MR/T041897/1 and Medical Research Council, under grant no. MR/W002450/1

Collaborators

Purrble development:
Prof Katherine Isbister, University of California Santa Cruz, USA

Purrble at Oxford:
Maureen Freed & Dr Timothy Knowlson, University of Oxford
Prof James Gross, Stanford University
Dr Jessica Schleider, Stony Brook University
Claudine Tinsman, Oxford University

Purrble w/ self-harm:
Prof Ellen Townsend & Prof Chris Hollis, University of Nottingham
Dr Seonaid Cleare, University of Glasgow
Prof James Gross, Stanford University
Public and Patient Involvement group, Sprouting Minds

Purrble for families - funded by UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (award reference MR/T041897/1), and UKRI EPSRC Studentship (award reference 2436440):
Dr Crispin Day, IoPPN, KCL and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Prof Alissa N. Antle, Simon Fraser University

SPARKLE Trial - funded by UKRI ESRC:
Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke, Dr Katarzyna Kostyrka-Allchorne, Dr Melanie Palmer IoPPN, KCL
Dr Crispin Day, IoPPN, KCL and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Prof Cathy Creswell, University of Oxford

EPEC studies:
Dr Crispin Day, IoPPN, KCL and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

The Imagine Neighborhood Trial:
Scotty Iseri, Committee for Children and Dr Sherri Widen

Department of Informatics at King’s
Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences

Find out more about 'Seeking Connection' at the 2023 London Design Biennale here.