Does Grandma Need a Hug? A Robotic Pillow Can Help
From: New York Times - 11/11/2004 - P. E7
By: Jeffrey Selingo

Research funded by the National Science Foundation has led to the development
of the Hug, a robotic pillow designed by Carnegie Mellon University
researchers that employs sensing and wireless phone technology to provide
elderly people with warmth and tactile sensations approximating the embrace
of family members. The velour-covered device, which is configured to resemble
a human torso with two arms reaching out, can be used by the sender (a
grandchild, for instance) to send hugs to the receiver (a grandparent). The
grandchild would squeeze one of the Hug's "paws" and utter the grandparent's
name; the utterance would be picked up by microphone and fed to voice
recognition software, which would identify the name and match it to a preset
phone number consistent with the recipient's Hug. The grandchild's device
would send a call to the grandparent's counterpart, which would emit a visual
and audio signal that the grandparent could respond to by squeezing the Hug's
left paw and saying hello. Then the grandchild would hug the device, and the
sensations would be converted by sensors into a data stream and transmitted
to the grandparent's device, triggering built-in motors to generate
corresponding vibrations while thermal fibers radiate warmth. Research shows
that older people are most often in need of emotional support, and the Hug
was designed to provide such support remotely, according to CMU professor
Jodi Forlizzi. CMU researcher Francine Gemperle notes that the Hug can have
broader applications beyond the grandchild-grandparent relationship it was
originally designed for. She acknowledges that the device "would need to go
through product development, where people may want to change its appearance
and make it more adaptable to different-sized people."  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/technology/circuits/11hugs.html

Other urls:
http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/307/send_hug_using
http://news.com.com/Does+grandma+need+a+hug+A+robotic+pillow+can+help/2100-7337_3-5448241.html
http://gadgets.engadget.com/entry/3239246478280903/
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/buzz/archives/003788.html