University of Minnesota researchers are bringing together robotics and AI to simulated hugs and track day-to-day stress.
Researchers from the College of Design, with the help of Serguei Pakhomov, PhD, College of Pharmacy and Institute for Health Informatics, are developing a compression vest that can be activated to relieve stress.
“Some people may have a physiological reaction that is consistent with a stress response, but they may not perceive it as stressful. Maybe [they’re] so used to that,” Dr. Pakhomov told the Minnesota Daily in an interview. “This is just kind of a starting project that puts together different technologies and different expertise.”
The research team, comprised of researchers from multiple disciplines, foresees a wide variety of applications for the technology, such as assisting the elderly and circumventing nicotine addiction.
“So the idea here is that the system will automatically monitor what's going on with them with their daily lives and their physiology and apply interventions as necessary,” Pakhomov said.