This Device Automatically Inflates Anxiety-Relief Vests

When was the last time someone gave you a hug, or even touched you at all? If you’re like many socially-isolated people around the world, it might have been quite some time and that can cause real harm to your mental health. Touch starvation is a serious issue and people can begin experiencing symptoms like anxiety, depression, stress, and difficultly sleeping after just a couple of days without physical touch. Humans crave skin-to-skin contact, even when it is purely platonic. But many of us are unable to receive that — particularly in the United States where we’re still subject to Puritan ideals regarding physical touch. Tevian purchased an inflatable vest designed to simulate touch to ease anxiety and built this automatic time inflation device to fill it.

The purpose of inflatable vests like the Tjacket and Squease is to use air pressure to give the wearer the feeling that they’re receiving a hug. According to Healthline, studies have shown that physical touch, like receiving a hug from a friend, can release hormones such as oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. Those are a requirement for your mental health, and the manufacturers of inflatable vests claim that their products can yield a similar effect. Tevian purchased a Squease vest in the hopes that it would help them relieve their anxiety. But that vest is inflated manually with a hand pump similar to what you’d see on a blood pressure cuff. To make the vest more convenient to use, Tevian designed and built this automatic inflation device.

This self-contained inflation device is controlled by an ESP32 board. That controls a simple air pump via FETs (Field-Effect Transistors). FETs are also used to control pneumatic solenoids that release the air pressure after a session. The ESP32 monitors the air pressure using a BMP180 sensor that is normally intended for weather stations. It can detect temperature as well, but that functionality isn’t needed for this device. A 3.2” Nextion NX4024T032 TFT touchscreen display is used to control the inflation and deflation, and to provide information about the current pressure and how long the vest has been inflated. Power is provided by a pair of 18650 lithium-ion battery cells. Tevian has programmed the device to inflate the vest for a preset length of time. It even has the ability to detect the wearer’s breathing rate, which is very useful for determining how well the vest is working. We don’t know if vests like this can truly replace actual human touch, but they certainly can’t hurt.