Accessibility

Hug Me

Hug Me is an integrated solution that empowers patients with motor neurone disease to express physical affection through haptic wearable. I designed an AAC app that would remotely trigger the wearable to generate sensations like hugging, touch etc.

Role

Duration

UX Design
3 months

So what’s it all about?

Motor neurone disease affects nearly 4 million people worldwide of their ability to move, speak, and express physical affection. Nearly 50% of patients die within 3 years of diagnosis.

Hug Me enables patients to initiate touch through an accessible AAC app that remotely triggers haptic sensations in wearables worn by their loved ones, preserving intimate connections even as physical abilities decline.

Here’s a video the covers it all.

Exploratory research

I conducted interviews with a family (MND patient and their primary caregivers) to:

  • understand the impact of limited physical movement on individual and family life.

  • identify the challenges with lack of mobility on the individuals and the family.

  • explore mobility and feasible interactions for the patient.

Pain points

  1. Frustration in patients due to loss of independence

    Basic activities like eating food, drinking water etc. were managed for the patients by the caregivers which made them feel powerless in initiating physical actions.

    [physical intimacy] is a one-way street now […] - MND Patient

  2. Limb stiffness is a barrier to receiving and initiating tactile communication in MND.

    There is a longing and desire for physical touch in patients and caregivers that is affected by parasthesia.

So, app requirements?

  1. Customise different tactile sensations including vibration strength and heat.

  2. Offer a library of vibro-tactile expressions (e.g., "hug," "tap"), providing users with meaningful, easy-to-select touch-based interactions.

  3. Use Fitts’ Law to design large, easily reachable interactive elements with minimal movement required, optimising for users with motor limitations.

Design studio session

I led the team to reflect on caregiving experiences and sketched initial ideas for 10-15 minutes based on the discussion. There were no constraints on imagining solutions at this stage.

We presented our ideas to each other and conducted two rounds of dot voting session was conducted on the initial set of ideas.

I sketched a storyboard of how these interactions might be performed by the user.

Co-design session

We conducted a virtual think-aloud session with an MND patient to test our app prototype to ensure accessibility and gather feedback on the wearable concept. Key insights included:

  • Need for a customisable library of pre-set actions that could be initiated with the wearable.

  • A kill switch to end an action initiated inadvertently.

Initial solution

A lightweight and discreet undershirt was designed using piezoelectric haptic pads. In combination with AR mode, the patients would be able to remotely generate sensations of hugs, tickles and share memories.

Reflections: The current app design poses significant challenges when scaling beyond a single user. Multiple users cannot be targeted. Additionally, manually adjusting settings for each wearable becomes time-consuming and impractical.

Interviewing experts

I did 3 semi-structured interviews with industry experts to explore the technical viability of the haptic vest and understand the range of possible sensations.

Materials scientist

Product designer

Engineer

Insights

  1. Sensory considerations for design

    Piezoelectric pads could generate meaningful haptic feedback but it needed to align with specific sensations for emotionally resonant interactions.

  2. Improve accessibility for various stages of MND progression

    Optimising interface for existing AAC tablets would better support users throughout MND progression, ensuring the solution remains usable as motor abilities decline.

Heuristic Evaluation

I evaluated the existing high-fidelity prototype based on Nielsen’s + Web and Content Accessibility Generator (WCAG) 2 + WCAG Mobile criterias.

So, I defined the reiteration goals as:

  1. Interface supports various tablet based AAC devices and different user abilities, to accomodate users across the spectrum of MND with different motor abilities to effectively interact with the app.

  2. Create symbol-based representation for onscreen elements to improve recognition and help MND patients quickly and accurately identify options.

  3. Add an emergency "kill switch" to immediately halt any actions triggered unintentionally, enhancing user safety and control.

Low fidelity prototyping

Final solution

The redesigned Hug Me app is a symbol-based, adaptable UI that is designed to enable MND patients and caregivers to select target receiver of four actions. These actions are more aligned with a vest-like wearable based on discussions with experts.

References