Hold Me When I’m Dying — Project Introduction & Artist Statement

Hold Me When I’m Dying explores ways that soft robotic technologies could be used as companions at a point of transition between living and dying. It speculates that an intelligent, cloud-like shell could be used as a way of wrapping around a person with shifting degrees of presence. At times it offers a light and drifting touch. At other times it would provide a strong and supportive hold. The cloud-shell would function as a robotic death doula that is able to deliver physical care to patients during their final moments when words, bodies, and attention may be unavailable.

The concept unites speculative design with palliative care research and current advancements in soft robotic technology. The research project combines inflatable textiles with variable stiffness structures and sensor arrays to develop a system that detects body movements through gentle reading and generates responses through controlled texture changes and pressure and temperature and volume adjustments.

Instead of speculating on a technology that could replace human touch and comfort, this project is an exploration of what could be made for support, if physical presence is not an option or one is facing end of life alone. There are questions of dignity, consent, intimacy, vulnerability, and what it means to design for and about the final stage of being and phase of life.

Alongside my work as an interaction designer, I have had training in palliative care and end of life care. Both of these worlds rarely intersect. One is driven by sensor, actuators, and systemic thinking, and the other is driven by concepts of presence, breath, and the quiet ethics of 'being present’ as one approaches the end of life. The project represents my attempt to unite these two distinct domains.

Hold Me When I’m Dying is not meant for automating care or replacing human care and companionship. The project employs design fiction to study physical care during extreme vulnerability through its cloud-shell system which demonstrates how technology can be involved in one in one of the most intimate human experiences without removing something essential in the process. A shell functions as protective outer covering which protects the person and provides emotional support. It hugs, cradles, comforts, and supports.

In this way, Hold Me When I’m Dying evolves and becomes more than a prototype for the scenario. It becomes a question:

What does it mean to design for a final touch, and how might technology offer an alternative presence when presence is needed the most?

In my next posts I'll take through my research, exploration and creative process. You're welcome to join me in this journey!