Tether

Inspiration

Lately, it feels like a lot of us are living as what I think of as “floating heads.” Between constant digital input and high-pressure environments, the connection between mind and body can get pretty thin. This is especially true for neurodivergent people. We were drawn to the idea of somatic silence. It’s best described as that strange moment when you realize you’ve been mentally gone for twenty minutes and suddenly can’t feel your own feet on the ground. That feeling of drifting was the starting point for us. The goal became simple: build something that helps people reconnect with their physical presence.

What it does

Tether is meant to act as a somatic anchor. It’s a wearable arm cuff paired with a mobile interface that tracks subtle signals related to posture and muscle tone to estimate a user’s level of presence. If the system senses that someone is drifting into a dissociative or frozen state, it responds with a series of escalating physical cues: heat, pulse, and compression. Instead of just notifying the user, the device creates a physical sensation strong enough to pull attention back into the body.

How we built it

We treated skin contact as the core interface. Rather than designing something that felt like a tech gadget, we looked to high-end jewelry and medical wearables for inspiration. The result was four different cuff geometries designed to maintain consistent skin contact without feeling restrictive. On the software side, we built what we call the Presence Spectrum. Instead of labeling states as good or bad, it treats awareness as something fluid that can be observed and gradually strengthened. This way, presence feels more like a muscle than a score.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was finding the balance between intrusion and support. A device that’s supposed to break a dissociative loop could easily become annoying or stressful if it triggers too aggressively.

We spent a lot of time adjusting thresholds and refining the physical feedback so that it feels more like a gentle interruption, almost like someone tapping your shoulder, rather than an alarm going off.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One thing we’re particularly proud of is moving beyond the standard buzzing watch. By integrating thermal cues and deep-pressure compression, we were able to create feedback that feels more aligned with how the body naturally processes sensation.

We also built an Emergency Protocol system. If the user can’t ground themselves after multiple triggers, the system can escalate support so they’re not left stuck in that state.

What we learned

One of the biggest takeaways from this project is that presence is something you practice, not just something you either have or don’t. We also found that common biometrics like heart rate don’t always capture the kind of mental drifting we were interested in. Tools that support mental health probably need to do more than just collect data, they need to physically intervene in ways that help the mind reconnect with the body.

What's next for Tether

The next step is shifting from detecting dissociation to preventing it. We’re interested in whether long-term use of Tether could help users recognize their own early “pre-drift” signals before the device even activates.

We also want to test the system in more real-world therapeutic contexts. One possible direction is partnering with occupational therapists to study how the Compression Trigger performs with patients experiencing PTSD-related dissociation, since deep pressure is already used in some grounding and sensory regulation techniques.

Built With

• claude
• figma
• figmamake