Smart Wearable Sleeve Lets Long-Distance Loved Ones Feel Each Other’s ‘Touch’

Photo 141409150 © Anna Avdeeva | Dreamstime.com

As social beings, being far away from loved ones when we need their comfort can be difficult. Although technology has made it possible for people to see and talk to their partners, friends, and family members, it hasn’t quite replicated the feel one gets when they hold someone’s hand.

Science isn’t quite there, but it’s taking some steps. A team of researchers from Stanford University, led by graduate student Millie Salvato, have designed a wearable sleeve that simulates human touch, enabling long-distance couples to express care and affection through tactile messages.

To develop these emotional signals, the team had 37 people respond to sentimental scenarios. Some participants were tasked to wear a pressure-sensing device on their arm, while others were asked to touch the gadget in relation to feelings of being attention-seeking, gratitude, happiness, calm, love, and sadness, Scientific American reports.

In total, there were over 600 interactions ranging from squeezes to shakes and pokes. The researchers then used machine learning to identify movements most common in those scenarios.

The data was used to develop a wearable sleeve with vibrating disks that offered haptic responses at the cue of electronic messages.

Granted, the simulations aren’t as direct as giving a high-five or having your hand shaken, but a followup experiment showed that participants could match the touches to the right feelings 45% of the time, nearly three times the success rate of mere guesses. Teaching people what each signal means would certainly boost this accuracy.

Salvato—who is in a long-distance relationship herself—points out that the sleeve might not feel like a hand, but the response “feels nice, honestly.”

[via Boing Boing and Scientific American, cover photo 141409150 © Anna Avdeeva | Dreamstime.com]