Remotely Hugging - Inflatable Hugging Suit
- What does it do?
- Who's done what beforehand?
- Hug Shirt
- Hug Over a Distance
- Parihug
- What did you design?
- What materials and components were used?
Where did they come from?
How much did they cost? - What parts and systems were made?
- Inflatable bags
- 3D printed connectors
- Bags, belts, and hidden pockets
- Step Response sensors in the silicone
- PCBs
- Step Response, Communication, Accesspoint, and HTTP Client codes
- Pockets patterns
- Rubber washer
- Pumps station
- What processes were used?
- Lasser Cutting the patterns for hidden pockets, pumps station, and rubber washers
- 3D printing for connectors between valves and tubings
- Milling PCB boards
- Embedded Programming for Main and Secondary PCBs
- Networking and Communications for with EPS-Wroom-02D Input (Mannequin) and Output (Hugging Suit)
- Ultrasonic Welding Machine for Vacuum packaging bags
- Coverstitch Sewing Machine for hidden pockets
- Stitching machine and Overlocked machine for bags and belt
- Milling and Casting the silicone sensors
- What questions were answered?
-
Q: Could the feeling of hugging be transmitted?
A: Yes, the feeling can be transmitted digitally. And the family and friends from another side of earth can also feel that. -
Q: How does ESP-Wroom-02D communicate with each other
A: By hosting an accesspoint on the ESP module, the other ESPs and devices could connect to the Wifi hotspot(from the accesspoint) to become clients and send an HTTP request to change the status of it.. -
Q: How to soldering ESP-Wroom-02D properly?
A: To solder the GND pad under the ESP module is a huge challenge, which is easy to overheat the ESP itself. The best solution I found from the project is instead of soldering it, but attaching it to PCB with heat paste to dissipation and fix it. - What worked? What didn't?
- How was it evaluated?
- What are the implications?
The hugging suit allows people to feel an embrace and deliver their love, miss, and warmth remotely. As an international student, I could only meet my family and girlfriend once a year. If there is a product that could transmit the hug as a digital signal as video, text, or sound through the internet. It could definitely help a lot of people to deal with missing. Especially in the corona pandemic time, not only those who are working or studying aboard, some families couldn't even meet in the important festivals, such as Christmas or New Year, to prevent the spreading of Covid-19.
The HugShirt collects the data from the sensors on fabric and passes through Bluetooth to the Hug Shirt App on the smartphone. With the app on the other side of the world, another smartphone can access the data and pass the signal to another HugShirt in real-time.
A Koala doll with a screen interface could send a hugging signal to inflate the air compartments of the vest.
When a doll, Pari, is hugged the paired pal will gently vibrate at the same time. When the pair of Paris are hugged at the same time, both users will feel the other's heartbeats over all of the miles.
I designed a jacket with some hidden inflatable materials to simulate the feeling of a hug. I also made a pair of bags to package the PCBs, pumps, and valves. To keep them with the user of hugging suits, I sewed a belt to keep them on the waist.
In my project, two PCBs, a main board and a secondary board were made. On the secondary board, it includes two microcontrollers: ESP-Wroom-02D and Attiny 1614. TX and RX pins were used to communicate between them.
Bill of Materials
| Name | Description | Links | Amount | Unit Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Valves | 6V AIR VALVE WITH 2-PIN JST PH C | Digi-Key | 6 | €2.41 |
| JST Jump Cable | JST-PH 2-PIN JUMPER CABLE, to replace the original JST XT from valves | Digi-Key | 6 | €0.78 |
| Silicone Tubings | - Silicone hose 2x1mm transparent - Silicone hose 4x0.5mm transparent |
Etra Oy Etra Oy |
1 1 |
€14.69 / 25m €17.43 / 25m |
| Compressor and Vacuum Pump |
- DP0125 12V 2.5L/min - DP0140 12V 4L/min |
Nitto Kohki Nitto Kohki |
2 2 |
€64 €77 |
| Connectors for Air Tubing | Cross Four-Way 4mm | Mandu | 4 | €7.5/4 packs |
| SLA 3D Print Connectors (Male and Femal) | Formlab Durable Tough 1500 Resin | Formlab | 84.00mL(12 for each) | €175/L |
| Vacuum packaging | 28 cm / 5m, 2pcs | TOKOMANNI | 2 | €6.98 |
| 12v Power Adapter | FSP025-DYAA3 AC Power Adapter 25W 12V 2.08A | AliExpress | 1 | €21.15 |
| FTDI Cables | - Cable USB UART 3.3V - Cable USB UART 5.0V |
Digi-Key Digi-Key |
1 1 |
€17.34 €17.34 |
| Plywood | 3mm 900x600mm koskiply plywood | Koskisen | 1 | €12.40 |
| Rubber sheet | No smell lasser rubber sheet | Alibaba.com | 1 | €2.76 |
| Eletronics Kits | ||||
| Attiny1614 | IC MCU 8BIT 16KB FLASH 14SOIC | Digi-Key | 1 | €0.78 |
| ESP-WROOM-02D | RX TX Wifi Trace | Digi-Key | 2 | €3.18 |
| N-MOSFET | MOSFET N-CH 30V 1.7A SUPERSOT3 | Digi-Key | 7 | €0.42 |
| Regulators | - IC REG LINEAR 3.3V 1A SOT223 - IC REG LINEAR 5V 1A SOT223 | Digi-KeyDigi-Key | 21 | €0.42€0.66 |
| Heat Sinks | Heatsink Alum Anod | Digi-Key | 3 | €0.33 |
| Schottky Diodes | 100V, 1A | Mouser Electronics | 7 | €0.381 |
| Connectors | - JST Conn Header SMD 2Pos 2mm - RCPT 4 Pos |
Digi-Key Digi-Key |
6 6 |
€0.41 €0.64 |
| LED | - Red Clear 1206 SMD - Orange Clear 1206 SMD - Blue Clear Chip SMD |
Digi-Key Digi-Key Digi-Key |
1 2 1 |
€0.057 €0.193 €0.3 |
| Capacitors | - 1μF 50V X7R 1206 - 10μF 35V X7R 1206 |
Digi-Key Digi-Key |
3 4 |
€0.23 €0.44 |
| Resistors | - 100Ω SMD 1% 1/4W - 1kΩ SMD 1% 1/4W - 10kΩ SMD 1% 1/4W - 10MΩ SMD 1% 1/4W |
Digi-Key Digi-Key Digi-Key Digi-Key |
7 4 11 12 |
€0.08 €0.08 €0.08 €0.08 |
| Power Jack | 2X5.5mm Solder | Digi-Key | 2 | €1.09 |
| Switchs | Slide Switch SPDT 100mA 12V | Digi-Key | 4 | €0.83 |
| Buttons | Tactile Switch SPST-NO 0.05A 24V | Digi-Key | 2 | €0.83 |
| Screw Terminals | 2Pos Side 3.5mm PCB 3Pos Side 3.5mm PCB |
Digi-Key Digi-Key |
1 2 |
€0.39 €0.59 |
| Pin Header | - FTDI SMD 01x06 2.54mm- UPDI SMD 01x02 2.54mm- RCPT SMD 02x02 2.54mm | Digi-Key Digi-Key |
3 1 6 |
€0.13 €0.67 |
| Rivets | - outside = 0.8 mm, inner = 0.6 mm - outside = 1.4 mm, inner = 1 mm |
VPC | 36 8 |
$0.05 $0.05 |
| PCB FR1 2-Sided | 2 sided FR1 circuit board stock 6 in × 6 in | Inventables | 2 | $1.7 |
| Wires | 6 Conductors 0.050 Gray 1.27mmx15.24m | Digi-Key | 1 | €12.86 |
| Digi-Key | € | |||
| Sensor parts | ||||
| Dragon Skin | Dragon Skin™ 10 FAST | Smooth-On | 1 | $32.21 |
| Copper Tapes | 3M 1126 Foil Tape, 1" Width x 6yd. Length | Amazon | 1 | €30.40 |
| AA Batteries | Amazon Basics 4 Pack AA High-Performance Alkaline Batteries | Amazon | 3 | €3.03/4pack |
| AA Battery Holders | Battery Holder (Covered) AA 3 Cell Wire Leads - 6" (152.4mm) | Digi-Key | 1 | €2.5 |
| Totol Price | €565.1 |
Most of my designs worked, only the individual sensors and valves matching didn't work. Because of the characteristic of step response, I found that not only the copper sheets but also the cables themselves are part of sensors, which means when I touched the cable the sending data would react as well. The improvement that could be done in the future is that shorten the cables from sensors to PCBs, in other words, give each sensor a microcontroller. Only use the digital signals to travel around the clothes to avoid the noise and achieve communication in between the boards.
The principle to evaluate my project is the responsive feeling from the hugging. Although there are still some points that could be improved, the result is quite satisfactory. The parts that I could improve in the future include the warmth of a real hug, which could be made by temperature sensors. Also, I will assign PCBs to each step response sensors to shorten the cable of sensors to decrease the noise from accident touch.
In the future, the distances in the physical world would ease and blur gradually. With the help from technology and the digital world, we can now contact friends from thousand of miles away almost immediately: video calls, online meetings, and so on. The tactile feeling hopefully could be simulated better later. My project is one of the ideas that try to shorten the distances between people and heal homesickness. But from another point of view, it's also a new way to interact with the virtual world. As the inspiration I mentioned previously, in the series "Upload" the people who live in reality and virtual world can "Touch and feel" each other by a sex suit. My project is only the first step to realize it, trying to optimize the simulation of heating and tactile senses are more complicated than it.
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