A New Technology Transmitting ‘Emotional Touch’ Has Been Developed

In the last two years we have lived COVID-19 pandemic Because of this, we connect with people both physically and socially. distance We had to put This, no doubt, showed us how dependent we are on the existence of other people, and taught us how much of a social creature human beings actually are.

This situation, of course, made it more difficult for those who had to stay away from their loved ones during this process. Even if we continue to communicate with methods such as messaging and video calling, these methods do not fully express our feelings to the other person. our failure to transmit For the most part, it was quite inadequate. However, with a new technology developed by a graduate student from Stanford University, who was affected by his experiences in this process, it seems that it may now be possible to convey our feelings to someone who lives far from us.

Developed a mechanism that simulates the ‘touch’ of a distant person

Stanford University graduate student Millie Salvato had to be separated from her girlfriend during the pandemic, which inspired a new technology to emerge. Dreaming of a loving and comforting ‘physical contact’ with her lover throughout the pandemic, Salvato and his colleagues are using the human touch. capable of simulating and conveying abstract social messages sent electronically a wearable arm assembly designed it.

In each test conducted by Salvato and his team, which measured how 37 participants expressed social information in different situations, one of the participants was on his arm. a device that senses pressure While wearing it, another participant responds to scenarios with six intended meanings: attention seeking, gratitude, happiness, calming, love, and sadness. touched.

such as squeezing, hitting, shaking, poking 661 different touch gestures After collecting the data, the research team mapped the position and pressure of each of these movements. Following that, the team used a machine learning algorithm to select the movements that were the most reliable part of each response; Finally, a wearable is designed to simulate these movements using eight embedded discs that vibrate when signaled electronically. arm cover programmed it.

It is now possible to be emotionally ‘closer’ with our distant loved ones

His inventions naturally look like a real human hand don’t feel Still, Salvato said it was better than nothing. “To be honest beautiful it feels.” saves as.

Touch researcher Gregory Gerling from the University of Virginia, who was not involved in the study, used the study in terms of how social touch occurs and how it can be reproduced. “unique” qualifies as. Gerling said in a statement about the study, “Given the small amount of information available to them, what touch was conveyed to them by the participants? at a fairly high rate I think it’s interesting that they get it right.” uses expressions.

How important is social contact for both physical and mental health? important This is something that has been proven time and again by countless previous studies. This new technology means that in the future, instead of just sending <3 to our loved ones via phone or computer, we will be able to send them how we are feeling at that moment, and in this way we can help each other. emotionally closer It means we can feel.