RI Company Sproutel’s New Product Named One of TIME’s Best Innovations of 2021

RI Company Sproutel’s New Product Named One of TIME’s Best Innovations of 2021

Providence-based Sproutel keeps developing interactive, smart stuffed toys to assist children with complex health challenges. And, the company keeps winning some of the highest-profile innovation awards in the country.

This year Sproutel’s new product was named to TIME’s Best Innovations of 2021 list.

Here is what TIME wrote about Sproutel's Purrble:

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During the pandemic, countless children have been isolated at home and distressed as their lives and routines were abruptly disrupted. For some, Purrble ($49.99) came to the rescue.

An interactive plush toy equipped with seven sensors that respond to touch, Purrble’s haptic heartbeat speeds up to 135 b.p.m. when it senses somebody’s playing with it. Kids can then comfort their companion with gentle petting, slowing Purrble’s vibrational heartbeat to a purr—calming themselves as well in the process.

Developed using research from the Committee for Children, a nonprofit and global leader on social-emotional learning, the device aims to help children learn to regulate their emotions. Preliminary research shows that Purrble is doing just that: in a study with 20 families, 19 parents reported that the toy helped their kids calm down when they needed to. “I grew up with a chronic illness as a child and would have loved to have this,” says Aaron Horowitz, CEO of Sproutel, which designed the toy. 

You can buy HERE.

This is far from the company's first award -- another product was selected to “50 Best Innovations of 2018” by Time Magazine.