Tech companies invest heavily in tracking individual metrics: steps, heart rate, sleep, etc., yet overlook the complexity of human relational needs. As social beings, we require physical contact for health. Substantial evidence shows that touch improves physical and mental well-being by reducing pain, anxiety, depression, and cortisol levels. We still use phrases like "let's keep in touch," yet the expression has become a digital artifact, stripped of its original meaning.
By tracking hugs—their frequency, duration, and intensity—we believe people will actively seek more human contact throughout their daily lives.“inTouch” is like a step counter but for tracking hugs to help keep the wearer accountable for everyday physical touch.
inTouch consists of a pressure sensor, worn as a necklace, which records pressure activity as hugs. The hug data is captured and published via MQTT by an Arduino housed in the belt-clip pack. When a hug is recorded, the data includes the time the hug was initiated, as well as the duration and pressure intensity of the hug, the intention being that this data can be an invitation to reflect and act. Just as a low step count motivates someone to take an evening walk, seeing a week without recorded hugs might prompt a call to a friend, a visit to a parent, or simply a longer embrace with a partner at the end of the day. The goal isn't to gamify intimacy but to make visible what we too often let slip away unnoticed, and in so doing, help people reclaim the profound health benefits of human touch.
inTouch was built as an exploration of how we might enable computers to sense something about human behavior that is important to us. The team focused their inquiry into capturing an element of the interpersonal relational nature of people.
