Friday 30 April 2010

Pillow Talk - My Degree Project

Hello, blog. Yet another vast expanse of time has gone back in which I have not updated, sorry about that.

Things have been pretty hectic over the last couple of months. I'm rapidly, RAPIDLY heading towards the end of my degree. Where have the last four years gone? I have no idea. Fortunately, as our course is studio based, we don't have any exams this year - just an end of year project.

My project is about networking long distance couples. It hasn't actually come from the situation John and I are in - basically I managed to make a heart rate sensor with any visual/audio output I wanted, and needed something to apply it to. Eventually I figured out that if you didn't want to see/hear your own heartbeat, the only other one you would want to hear would be someone you love's - eg. your baby, child or lover. Children aren't really my forte, so I went with long distance lovers.


My project summed up in 100 words (one of my submissions):

"Pillow Talk is a project aiming to connect long distance lovers. Each person has a pillow for their bed and a chest sensor which they wear to sleep at night. The chest sensor wirelessly communicates with the other person’s pillow; when one person goes to bed, their lover’s pillow begins to glow softly to indicate their presence. Placing your head on the pillow allows you to hear the real-time heartbeat of your loved one.

The result is an intimate interaction between two lovers, regardless of the distance between them."