» max emrich - meditation «

meditation

During a one-week stay at the Fraunhofer Summer Camp, four teams of two scientists and 4 designers worked with new technologies to fight current and future pandemics. My Team designed a meditation device that measures the human olfactory sense during a daily ritual. It helps fight Covid-19 and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

» Fraunhofer Summercamp «

The human sense of smell is a good indicator for neurodegenerative diseases; a slight loss can be detected over time before any other tests indicate the emergence of the disease. It's also an indicator for the coronavirus, although in a shorter time frame.

Current devices are massive. The first challenge was breaking down the still massive technical device, Hans Trinkaus called "Hat Lab" since it wasn't user-friendly. Our design uses a basic EEG combined with a PEA scent and CO2 cleanser.

Collecting data about the olfactory sense on a large scale would allow us to train an AI to better detect diseases early on and improve the overall public health status. So the most significant challenge from a user perspective was the question, "How might we get young people to use this screening technology daily?"

To answer this question, we decided to use a self-care approach. A meditation mask that helps you meditate & relax while testing your sense of smell allows us to collect data. With this data, we can not only help the individual but everyone. We go from an interest in self-care to a healthier community.

The Mask allows you to lay down and has an integrated light panel that stimulates your senses. Not only do the light effects help you fade away, but they also allow for a cleaner EEG scan. The scent and CO2 cartridges can be easily swapped. The device is accompanied by a small app to get started and give you feedback.