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OTO Le fauteuil à étreindre

Innovations Awards

Throughout the process of creating, launching and marketing the OTO chair, we were able to win a number of awards.


We’re proud to have won these awards, and we’d like to thank everyone who believed in our “OTO” project.


Here’s a list of some of the awards we’ve received

2023

SantExpo: Innovation prize for mental health and neuroscience

Start west : prix “small invest”

Région Pays de la Loire : “Trophée Joséphine

Handitech trophy: “Parcours et dispositifs de santé


Since 2017, the Handitech Trophy (powered by Job in Live, in partnership with BBI France), brings together tech’ and inclusion players to promote project leaders dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities.

“Handitech trophy : coup de coeur BPI France”

Prix : “La Fabrique abeille assurance”

Aimed at rewarding impactful entrepreneurial initiatives, La Fabrique Abeille Assurances has been supporting project leaders in the fields of health, the environment, inclusion and employment since 2015.

Fond innovation Santé: Nantes métropole

2022

“Startups and innovation day”

2021

Mon projet innovant“: prix départemental de la Loire-Atlantique

“The James DYSON awards”

The James Dyson Award is an international design competition that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of engineers and designers. It is open to students and recent graduates in industrial design. Oto won the French prize and finished in the international top 20.

2020

” Grand prix idéation

Le “Grand Prix Idéation”, aimed at students, PhD students and researchers, rewards a theory, thesis or idea with a practical application.

Grand prix de l’innovation pour la santé de l’Enfant

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OTO Le fauteuil à étreindre

Design process

During my studies as a cabinetmaker and designer. I built the prototype of this chair as part of a final project to design and build innovative wooden furniture that met the needs of specialist users.

Adapei-logo

People with autism and educators were involved in developing the design from the start of the project. I worked with autistic people and specialist educators and psychometricians to understand their daily life and their needs to ensure that my design was practical and useful. I also worked with a specialist school for autistic people in Blain (western France) which helped me to understand the sensory needs of autistic people, and the use of deep pressure therapy to manage anxiety.

Autistic people’s sensory processing difficulties have been understood for many years. Dr Temple Grandin, a famous autistic American, is a professor at Colorado State University and is known for designing systems to handle livestock.

Temple-grandin
squeeze-machine

She first began to think about ‘squeeze machine’ when she saw how pressure had a soothing effect on livestock. She went on to build the first prototype to meet her own sensory needs.

Her device has two panels, one on each side of the user’s body. The user controls a pneumatic actuator to pull the panels together, applying controlled pressure to their body.

I chose to design a piece of furniture – with the same function, and which meets the need for deep pressure – but with a non-stigmatising design that also contributes to the soothing sensation. I worked with teams from the educational centre in Blain for over a year to realize this first prototype.

Since January 2021, my project – OTO the hugging chair – has been evaluated by Professor Bonnet-Brilhault at the Université de Tours, a national center of excellence for autism in France. Feedback from people with autism enables me to better understand their needs, and testing looks at the impact of the chair, enabling me to make modifications to the design and improve the user’s experience, for example by adjusting the levels of noise and light emitted. This approach is helping me to produce furniture that is useful, usable, and used in the long term.

Following the success of my project, I am now actively developing it with the intention of commercializing and sharing it further.

If you’d like more information about this project :

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OTO Le fauteuil à étreindre

OTO

OTO the hugging chair was designed to meet the needs of its users. The shell is in beech wood and different materials have been integrated in a graphical pattern, which is designed to help autistic people explore the seat through touch. The colors were chosen for their soothing effect. The velvet fabric is washable. 

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