Sleeptight: A Wearable Guardian Angel

The birth of a newborn brings joy to the parents, their friends, and their whole family. In contrary, the death of a newborn traumatizes the family and often causes deep-rooted grief for the parents. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the leading death for babies less than one year of age. It is neither an illness nor a disease that has a remedy, but a diagnosis that the exact cause is yet to be found. Existing commercial products for babies that claim to prevent SIDS have induced numerous strangulation accidents. Clothing, as an artifact being close to our skin and everyday life, offers a possible medium that can protect the wearer by combining wearable textile with bio sensing technology. This paper describes the design process of a bioresponsive wearable garment, Sleeptight. The wireless wearable system reacts to the wearer’s hazardous sleep posture, informs the caretaker of the baby wearer’s physiological state, and notifies the caretaker when immediate attention is required. Sleeptight contributes to the design application of healthcare wearable technology for home operations by addressing the six aims of healthcare system: 1) patient-centered design that addresses SIDS, 2) effective intake of bodily data and convert into meaningful, comprehensible output, 3) efficient solution that connects the baby and the caretaker, 4) timely feedback that reacts and alarms the wearer at critical moments, 5) safe implementation of technology and form design, and 6) foster equitable opportunity for more users.