EvoK: Connecting loved ones through Heart Rate sharing

TL;DR

EvoK introduces a wearable system that shares heart rate data between loved ones to reduce social isolation, featuring aesthetically designed headbands and wristwatches for continuous, unobtrusive health-related social connection.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel wearable system, EvoK, for real-time heart rate sharing aimed at enhancing social bonds and alleviating loneliness.

Findings

Prototype devices successfully shared continuous heart rate data.

Designs prioritized social acceptance and unobtrusiveness.

Potential to improve emotional well-being through social health monitoring.

Abstract

In this work, we present EvoK, a new way of sharing one's heart rate with feedback from their close contacts to alleviate social isolation and loneliness. EvoK consists of a pair of wearable prototype devices (i.e., sender and receiver). The sender is designed as a headband enabling continuous sensing of heart rate with aesthetic designs to maximize social acceptance. The receiver is designed as a wristwatch enabling unobtrusive receiving of the loved one's continuous heart rate with multi-modal notification systems.