Overview

How to bond and synchronize people when they are in a long distance relationship ?

SOULMate, your soul in a tiny robot. You can remote control your robot and the perspective you see by face tracking technique. This gives you the autonomy to see what you would like to see and not limit by the other one.

Role:
User Researcher
Design Prototyper

Duration:
Jan. 2021 (1 month)

Catagory:
#Robotic
#Interaction design
#Motiontracking
#OpenCV

PROBLEM

During the covid situation, people can not meet face to face, which increases the isolation, loneliness, and other mental health issue occurring possibility. Then I start to think that how might I make a tiny robot to assist people to break physical boundaries and make people feel linkage and synchronised with significant others even when they are apart?

RESEARCH

During the long distant relationship workshops with 14 people (age from 22 to 45), I summarised top three insights are Sharing experience is the key to build the connection, which is important than the simulate physical feedback, video chat is lack of quality eye contact and easily distracted by the environment and physical objects can bring emotional attachment. 

PRIOR ARTS

There are many products create tangible feedbacks to make long distant people feel each other. While it provids short period interaction. Is there any better way to bond long distant people?

IDEATION

In ideation process, I explore the possibility of communication in long distant. Including instant printing machine, app game to link people’s life, tiny robot which you can put your soul in...etc

After iteration, my research question is

INTERACTION SYSTEM

Soulmate interaction mode include the mobile/laptop camera capture user’s image and detect people’s movement. Then transfer these information to the remote tiny robot to do the corresponding movement and show the remote video chatting.

PROTOTYPE I:

To make more comprehensive and emotional attachment, the demonstration of tiny robot can express the emotion which present by the remote one through the computer vision motion tracking.

PROTOTYPE II

The demonstration of the computer vision motion tracking. User can see the scene in the other side and by the head movement, which create have the autonomy for user to control the angle and place of camera movement.

SUMMARY

"Soulmate" is a project provide new communication experience and companionship in a remote situation with a tiny robot that provides you the autonomy to express yourself, communicate with your loved ones and aim to help user to build a stronger bonding between them and feel each other even they can not really meet each other.

REFELCTION

Due to the time limitation, this proejct did not extend to build the outlook of the robot and make the real distant test with people. In the future, it can build with the finish and test more rounds with people.