For this project, I am proposing a simple tool that can help people with difficulties with communication. More precisely, my aim is to close the gap between people facing depression, loneliness and sadness.
This project comes from personal experience. In the past few months people very close to me have been hospitalized for depression, suicidal attempts and overdose. This has been an eye opening experience for me, as I now try my best to remain present for my friends, even when they lock themselves in their rooms for days and refuse to see anyone.
I also see this as a communication device for people dealing with long distance relationships. Ideally, tihs project can help individuals relieve stress, deal with depression, sadness, longing, etc.
Opposed to my previous project, this work is focussed on human interaction, it is a cultural work that, hopefully, can make a positive impact on individuals. I am aware of many similar projects, but I feel very strongly for this topic, and so I hope that I can make something meaningful that is not a replica of other works. Also, most of the physical computing projects that try to help with loneliness and depression use AI technologies. My project is about breaking the distance and making communication more seamless between people.
Features of my project:
- Made with Felt for softness
- Blows and lights up when someone “thinks of you”
– When someone puts an object on a plate
– Hug will be blowing up and lighting pink
– Blue lights will be I miss you
– Purple lights
- Lights up to “communicate with you”
– Randomly blows up and lights up to cheer you up
- Facial expressions?
- SMS/EMAIL communication
- RFID objects?
Basically, it will be a felt “creature” that can blow up like a balloon, light up and present expressions. On the go, you can send an SMS/email to a specific email address. The creature at home or at the office will blow up and light up. It will be happy that someone is thinking of you, and when it will be blown up it will be nice and soft to hug. You can also, at home, send specific messages to the creature. You can ask that it lights pink, for example, to signify that you love the person. You can also make it light blue, to signify that you miss the person.
This project would work so that one doesn’t need to have a cellphone, Skype or to check their email or social networking site every 10 seconds to be sent encouraging messages instantly. Other projects also try to use AI to give intelligence to others, while the main component of my project is interaction between people. To me, this tool will be helpful as instead of writing “hug” or “love” as a sms everyday to my friend, I can make my others know that I miss them, love them and think of them in a physical way.
Inspirations
http://www.skaal.no/index.php
http://www.activeage.org/files/lonelinessdp.pdf
http://beatbots.net/
http://www.cutecircuit.com/products/wearables/thehugshirt/
http://chalmersphyscomp09.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/huggable-lily/