Design and Validation of a Lightweight 1D CNN for Affective Touch Classification in Soft Plush Companions

Abstract

arXiv:2607.16196v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Soft, sensorized companions offer a physically safe and emotionally intuitive interface for socially assistive technologies, yet their deformability and multichannel tactile sensing complicate the robust interpretation of human affect. This study presents a complete open-source MATLAB-based framework for the development and validation of compact deep learning models for affective touch recognition in soft interactive companions. As a primary contri