Hug Me

Empowering patients with motor neurone disease to express physical affection using app controlled haptic wearable

Duration: 10 weeks

Team: Bokyung Um, Ruobing Wang, Xiankang Liu, Olga, and me

So, what’s it all about?

How can people with motor neurone disease express physical affection to their loved ones? A haptic undervest was designed that could be remotely triggered by MND patients through their AAC device to generate sensations like hugging, touch, etc.

I was responsible for conducting research and designing the app for that would be used with the wearable. 

Take a sneak peak here at the final solution after the redesign!

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.

Insights

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

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

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

The MND patient were asked to virtually interact with the app prototype and thoughts about the initial wearable prototype. We gained insights on the overall design concept and insights around user needs, app flow, and discovering any additional sensory considerations for the product.

  • Certain physical interactions were specific to individuals. The user wanted the app to allow that customisation of pre-set library of actions that could be initiated with the wearable.

  • A kill switch was requested in case an action was inadvertently initiated.

The user’s (MND patient) fine motor abilities were further explored with an actual app prototype.

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 conducted three semi-structured interviews with industry experts to explore the real-world viability of the haptic vest proposed. I sought to understand the nature of sensations that could be generated.

Materials scientist

Product designer

Engineer

Insights

  1. Misalignment of sensations with wearable design

    The potential for use of piezoelectric pads for haptic feedback was discussed for the wearable and the range of physical sensations for intuitive and emotionally resonant interactions.

  2. Improve accessibility for various stages of MND progression

    Optimising interface for use of AAC tablets would better support users’ changing needs, enabling long-term usability use as their motor abilities decline. This would ensure that the product remains relevant and supportive throughout the progression of the disease.

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

I brainstormed initial ideas around the layout of the design. I reviewed the AAC interfaces for inspiration around the layout of the product. I created paper prototypes:

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