Hug over a distance

Abstract

People in close relationships, who are separated by distance, often have difficulty expressing intimacy adequately. Based on the results of an ethnographic study with couples, a prototype was developed to test the feasibility of technology in the domain of intimacy. Hug Over a Distance is an air-inflatable vest that can be remotely triggered to create a sensation resembling a hug. Although the couples did not consider the vest to be useful in their daily lives, the prototype served to provoke and stimulate design ideas from the couples during participative design workshops. An additional and unexpected benefit was also found: the prototype enhanced the couples' understanding of the researchers' methods, suggesting that prototypes can serve as tools to make participatory design volunteers aware of their importance in academic research.

Social Touch in Human–Computer Interaction

“…Also, a wide range of systems have been developed for the mediated representation of specific touch events between dyads such as kisses (Saadatian et al 2014), hugs (Mueller et al 2005;Cha et al 2008;Teh et al 2008;Gooch and Watts 2010;Tsetserukou 2010), pokes (Park et al 2011), handholding (Gooch and Watts 2012;Toet et al 2013), handshakes ), strokes on the hand (Eichhorn et al 2008), arm (Huisman et al 2013) and cheek , pinches, tickles (Furukawa et al 2012), pats (Bonanni et al 2006), squeezes (Rantala et al 2013), thermal signals (Gooch and Watts 2010;Suhonen et al 2012a,b), massages (Chung et al 2009), and intimate sexual touches (Solon 2015).…”

A Fabric-Based Approach for Wearable Haptics

“…In reference [52], a textile-based glove with electroactive polymers, acting as force/position sensors and haptic feedback actuators, was presented. In reference [53], the authors proposed an air-inflatable vest that can be remotely triggered to create a sensation that resembles a hug. In reference [50], the authors presented BubbleWrap, a matrix of electromagnetic actuators enclosed in fabric.…”

Evaluating Intimacy and Ludic Engagement with a Musical Interactive Art Installation that Explores Remote Abstract Communication

“…This framework has helped steer the development of the installation focusing mainly on the Emotional, Expressive, Reciprocity and Strong Yet Vulnerable attributes. While physicality in a literal sense is often viewed as a strong modality for intimate communication [9,10] it has not been used directly here. However, the installation explores physicality as the physical space close to the participant in the sense that it became a goal to give the participants the capability of virtually intruding each others intimate space.…”