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According to scientific data, hugs are extremely important, lack of hugging makes people sad and distant and prevents social contact. Research showed that people need to hug at least for 20 seconds to release the feel-good hormone oxytocin which creates a connection between people. Oxytocin has been shown to boost the immune system and reduce stress.
The idea is to give people (in particular elderly who can live in a nursery house or in a separate apartment and their grandchildren) an option to hug using a cushion.
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According to scientific data, hugs are extremely important, lack of hugging makes people sad and distant and prevents social contact. Research showed that people need to hug at least for 20 seconds to release the feel-good hormone oxytocin which creates a connection between people. Oxytocin has been shown to boost the immune system and reduce stress.
The idea is to give people (in particular elderly who can live in a nursery house or in a separate apartment and their grandchildren) an option to hug using a cushion.
According to scientific data, hugs are extremely important, lack of hugging makes people sad and distant and prevents social contact. Research showed that people need to hug at least for 20 seconds to release the feel-good hormone oxytocin which creates a connection between people. Oxytocin has been shown to boost the immune system and reduce stress.
The idea is to give people (in particular elderly who can live in a nursery house or in a separate apartment and their grandchildren) an option to hug using a cushion in a form of a heart with the implemented technology as a connection tool.
Here we present only the one prototype of a cushion, demonstrating the idea of how it can be used for connecting the family members. Also, the inner electronics is adjustable and can be removed when there is a need to wash the outer padding.
Interaction
The prototype is a cushion in the form of a heart with a built-in 15 LED-lightning, a piezo element for generating sound, Powerbank as a battery tool. All this mounts on an Arduino board (ESP8266 WeMos-D1R2 WiFi integrated) and connected remotely to the mobile application (we used Telegram messenger).
Family members can use the prototype in the following way:
Step 1. The grandchild sends a message (“Send Love”) to his/her grandparent in Telegram.
Step 2. The grandparent's pillow lights up.
Step 3. The grandparent hugs the pillow, which sends signal to the grandchild’s app, that love has been sent back.
Step 4. When the connection is established both family members take cushions and hug them sending Love to each other.
Process
The cushion generates music and sound. We decided to stimulate two brain channels – visual and audial – in order to achieve the best communication and signalize to other family members that the action (Need of hug) was initiated by another family member. Welcoming song can be modified according to the family preferences. The cushion starts blinking with orange lights to stimulate the family member’s attention. Also, blinking is useful in dimmed or darkened facilities. The lights stay on until someone hugs the cushion back, so if the person doesn’t notice it or doesn’t hear it at once, the signal stays there.
