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BACKGROUND
What is Empath?
Empath is a theoretical exploration into what a wearable technology focused on mental health care might look like. The following case study walks through the analysis of this product as if it were real.
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Scope
Set 5 years in the future, Empath is a two-part system designed to help users identify their emotions and advise them on steps they can take to improve or maintain their moods/emotions.
The first component of the system is a biocompatible sticker/sensor device that is placed behind the ear of the user. It is capable of measuring and recording electrical signals, GSR, electrical activity (intensity) in certain regions, blood oxygenation, pulse, tenseness of the jaw, as well as pitch and amplitude of the user’s voice. It can administer signals through bone conductance and is powered by the bodies’ heat.
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The second component of this system is a mobile application. The application asks users about their goals for their mood, and overall emotional and physical health. The main page shows your current mood and ways to maintain or change this mood (live-time monitoring). There is also a timeline pages allowing the user to view breakdowns of one’s mood and monthly trends. Perhaps the most crucial part of the mobile app is that it asks for user input to expose patterns and provide the user with a better understanding of the factors that contribute to a variety of emotions.
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Note: When thinking of this system, we typically will refer to emotions over mood because we think it will be more feasible to track emotions (shorter duration, greater variance) with machine learning as opposed to moods (indefinite duration, indefinite variance).
CHALLENGES
There are challenges that would have to be faced when bringing Empath to market. Some of which are common across most other types of wearable technology.
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User Sentiment
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Concern over data collection and storage
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Fear around social acceptance/judgement
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Denial or anger when confronted with their patterns
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Technical
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Some emotions elicit the same physical responses
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Power required for data transmission
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Biocompatibility of the sticker​
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EMPATH SUMMARY
Empath takes in physiological and cognitive information and processes that data to determine what emotion the user is feeling​
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Measures electrical brain signals
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Measures changes in pulse
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Measures skin conductance
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Measure electrical activity in certain muscle groups
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Jaw tensing​
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Movement of cheek and mouth muscles
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Measures pitch and amplitude of user's voice through bone conductance
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Empath relies on the user, and uses machine learning to better understand their emotions
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In the first few days of use, Empath uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) to tailor its systems to you
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Empath will draw initial conclusions about an emotional state and have the user confirm of deny the accuracy of those predictions
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Empath learns from your responses and uses them to inform its future predictions
USER PERSONA
ANALYSIS
Automation Workflow​
Task Analysis
Naive User Walkthrough
MOCKUPS
