Midterm Project Proposal

Echo Sensory Vest (working title)

Sophie Barness and Deb Linton

 

We would like to provide a solution for children who have trouble regulating emotions and communicating needs when they are upset. This problem was seen among children on the autism spectrum. A lack of ability to regulate emotions often led to aggressive behaviors.  Our goal is to develop a jacket/vest/cuff that provides sensory output when a childs biofeedback is starting to show signs of stress. We would like to produce an all-in-one product that provides different types of sensory output such as pressure, massage, lights, music?. We would also like to be able to provide recorded touch so a child (person) can feel a hug from his mom or a unique type of massage.

We believe this idea could have broader application for anyone dealing with stress, (students during finals), people in long distance relationships, geriatrics or people needing occupational therapy.

We have also discussed having the vest emit a colored light to let those around him know that he is experiencing stress or discomfort. This light could possible be a teaching tool to teach others about feelings or even provide some information for the child to recognize signs of stress.
The vest could also be connected to an app that records the biofeedback so parents or the individual can check and see how the subject is doing for that day or over time.
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