Care Dream Co., Ltd. (CEO Kim Ji-hoon), which was selected in the well-being and health field of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA)’s ‘2023 Non-face-to-face Leading Service Activation Project in the Life-friendly Field’, started the project by being selected as the grand prize winner at ‘E5 KAIST’ in the second half of 2019. The company was officially incorporated in March of the following year.
Care Dream, which has been conducting business to create social value as an excellent social venture selected by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is developing and upgrading care solutions for patients with developmental disabilities who always require help from others, and is addressing the lack of welfare infrastructure and human resources. We have introduced the ‘HUGgy’ product line of inflatable jackets that support treatment education and daily life for people with developmental disabilities while reducing dependence.
The company explained that these products have been proven through field tests on people with developmental disabilities to reduce cortisol concentration, which is a stress level, and increase class participation when used, and that they have actually received positive reviews from occupational therapists and parents. am. Care Dream is continuing the process of concentrating and collecting customer responses through the beta version of HUGgy, and was honored with the Innovation Award at CES 2022, where it exhibited this product prior to full-scale commercialization.
HUGgy’s core principle is based on ‘Deep Touch Pressure (DTP)’. DTP refers to the effect of stimulating the parasympathetic nerves when appropriate pressure is applied to the human body, thereby creating a feeling of stability.
It is also related to proprioception, which refers to the sense of self-movement, force, and body position. Proprioceptive signals are transmitted to the central nervous system and integrated with information from other sensory systems, such as the visual and vestibular systems, to form an overall representation of body position, movement, and acceleration. HUGgy stimulates the proprioceptive and interoceptive senses with pressure tailored to the user’s body type, thereby providing a stress-reducing effect by giving the user the feeling of being hugged by another person.
At the same time, HUGgy measures the user’s biosignals in real time and enhances its accuracy with an AI algorithm that utilizes accumulated data. It also has the advantage of being able to remotely identify measured data and signs of stress by supporting linkage between the main unit and mobile applications.
An official from Care Dream said, “Our HUGgy has a lightweight design and specialized technical structure both internally and externally, aiming at the value of breaking down the boundary between disability and non-disability and always accompanying daily life.” He added, “As we continue to take on these design challenges, “The goal is to make HUGgy go beyond the level of a simple treatment device and establish itself as a symbol of universal design,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA, Director Heo Seong-wook) aims to promote the distribution of non-face-to-face services in areas closely related to people’s daily lives, such as business, daily consumption, education/evaluation, and well-being/health in the pandemic era. We are pursuing a ‘service revitalization project’. Starting in 2021, as the non-face-to-face digital economy accelerates across the economy and society in response to the great digital transformation in the post-corona era, this project will select and support key investment areas focusing on services that urgently require non-face-to-face transformation. Care Dream has been selected in the well-being and health field.