The Printing Press
The Telegraph
The Telephone
Television
Personal Computers and the Internet
All of these important technological advancements have at their core the concept of telepresence: the ability to extend one's presence and reach of communication across a long distance. Perhaps the most influential inventions leading to our contemporary state of ubiquitous and instantaneous long-distance communication.
We are now surrounded by innovations that extend our ability to convey information to virtually anywhere on the planet. At any moment, via social networks, blogs, my cell phone , etc, I have the ability to receive and transmit anything to just about anyone.
In the long march towards constant telepresence, technology has rarely, if ever been applied to our immediate and personal interactions in physical space, the kinds we have with fellow humans every day. Indeed, actual presence social interactions have remained fundamentally untouched by technology.
In an increasingly technologized world, it is sometimes easy to forget how to interact with humans without the comfortable distance created by technology and text-based communication.
This is the thought process that launched me into my final project: Instead of using technology exclusively to extend our presence and communication to long distances, how can we use technology to improve our immediate and physical interactions?
Often we find ourselves greeting others in passing, on the street or at social gatherings. It is proven that a large percentage of what we communicate to others is sent via body language, and our bodies convey many things that are not under our control. Is it possible for us to use technology to further control our body language and thus smooth out our daily social interactions?
The hug has become a standard greeting between friends and acquaintances in America, but things do not always go as smoothly as we would like. Often complicated questions arise in the moment right before a hug takes place. Questions about positioning, closeness, duration, etc. are common. This sort of confusion can lead to limp, unfulfilling hugs that end up as a quick and awkward sort of touch, or the opposite occurs, and, not knowing when to let go, one or both parties might hang in just a bit too long, leading to another kind of quiet awkwardness.My project, the HugCoat, currently version 1.0, seeks to remedy this kind of awkward exchange by providing automatic protocol and tangible feedback into the situation. By alerting the user via a small vibration motor when a hug is complete, it allows one to approach a hug with confidence. It is much easier to go in for a full, hardy sort of hug when you know for a fact it will go on for an acceptably short, but still fulfilling duration.
Designed within an attractive sport coat, the HugCoat can be worn on a daily basis, as part of a regular wardrobe. It will come in handy particularly at parties and other medium to large social gatherings, where one is likely to come into contact not only with close friends, but also relatively familiar acquaintances, the kind of people with whom awkward hugs most regularly take place.
The HugCoat is particularly for those who may find that they have trouble empathizing in immediate space with others, due to personal social discomfort or as a side effect of too much technologically based communication. Certain people just have trouble pulling off proper hugs. However, the HugCoat is not limited to this demographic alone. At some point almost everyone feels confused by modern social rituals, which are often codified in a sense, but not in a direct and obvious way. Through innovations like the HugCoat, we might all be able to smooth out our social interactions, and learn to empathize with machine prescision.
