HeartBit is an interface designed for haptic heart rate biofeedback. A handheld heart beats alongside your own, mirroring the size, weight, and movement of a hidden internal organ, now external and tangible in real-time. HeartBit offers a medium for users to self-regulate in moments of stress, anxiety, or exertion: Control your heart to control your breath and body—for relaxation, performance enhancement, or augmented self-awareness.
Check out the early prototyping process here and read more about it here. Experiments to validate the system were run at the Ellen Langer Mindfulness Lab at Harvard.
By simply noticing how pulse shifts with changes in mindset, breath, and muscle tension, users can harness control of their heart rate.
The device allows users to feel another person’s pulse in their own palm, opening up possibilities for interpersonal and group interactions.
HearBit’s design promotes self-discovery of the mechanisms by which the user can recognize which methods—controlled breathing, muscle relaxation, mindset, and others—affect their heart rate; or share their heartbeat with others to induce empathy.
HeartBit faithfully amplifies individual heartbeats to users and provides them with high-resolution, real-time feedback from their physiology without irrelevant data. This design allows users to mindfully experiment with their biological rhythms for self-regulation, even when their eyes are closed. The device is a training tool to teach users to be mindful of their cardiac rhythm in cases of stress or high-performance.
Some images on how HeartBit was made:
More details on how HeartBit was made here.