Various companies have produced technologies to transmit hugs and kisses for long distance couples. The same types of technologies could be leveraged to hold the hand of a loved one from miles away. Pressure and temperature sensors, motors, and heating elements could operate in tandem to give families a chance to reconnect one last time. Perhaps humidity sensors and humidifiers could be used to more accurately replicate the specific feeling of the skin.
Holding Hands Across Continents
I wish I could have held my grandma's hand before she passed, thousands of miles away from me. Perhaps I could have..
Written by Ayon Bhattacharya
Who is your idea designed for and how does it reimagine the end-of-life experience?
There are 40 million immigrants and 17 million children of immigrant parents in the U.S alone. Often, extended families are split. When health issues arise and the end of life is near, it is not always affordable or feasible for entire families to travel and meet with their ailing loved one. Touch is an extremely critical tool for human connection and comfort, with studies reporting a 78% accuracy in gauging emotions via touch alone. Let's enable the power of touch over long distances!
What early, lightweight experiment might you try out in your own community to find out if the idea will meet your expectations?
A lightweight way to try this out would be to wirelessly record and replicate pressure across two glove-like modules. In fact, we could literally use gloves, along with cheap parts that you could obtain at a hobby-shop or hardware store.What skills, input or guidance from the OpenIDEO community would be most helpful in building out or refining your idea?
Product design skills, engineering skills, coding skills, input from doctors, input from immigrant families.Tell us about your work experience:
Designer.This idea emerged from
- An Individual
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CommentKate Rushton
Ayon Bhattacharya
Kate Rushton