Raya: A Tangible Exercise Buddy Reminding Oneself of the Commitment to Exercise

Although many people have a positive intention to be more active, a key challenge remains to turn this intention into action. Social support as a motivational strategy can increase adherence in exercise and can be provided by relational agents as a substitute for human coaches. We first conducted an exploratory two-week user study, to explore how emotional design and tangible interaction influences experience and motivation to exercise. We then designed a propositional research object Raya, a tangible exercise buddy that helps one to realize their workout by reminding them of their goals and self-commitment. We invite designers to bridge the gap in the design space of sport-related technologies by designing tangible artefacts embedding supportive and qualitative aesthetics of interaction rather than focusing on performance. © 2021, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.