As the world takes various precautionary measures to combat coronavirus epidemic, a start-up called Slightly Robot has redesigned one of its wearables called Immutouch that will vibrate if the user touches their face.

Slightly Robot redesigned its wristband, which earlier used to stop another type of harmful touching — trichotillomania, a disorder that compels people to pull out their hair, Tech Crunch reported.

Its accelerometer senses the hand movement 10 times per second. Immutouch buzzes when the user touches or comes close to touching their eyes, nose or mouth.

The aim of the wristband is to develop a Pavlovian response whereby the user would want to touch their face, but avoid doing so to prevent buzzing sensation on the wrist.

According to Matthew Toles, co-founder, Slightly Robot, the gravity of COVID-19 requires everyone to do their part, and the Slightly Robot team finds itself to be uniquely well equipped to tackle this one task as it was their duty to at least try, as per the Tech Crunch report.

The wristbands will be available from today for $50 each and they’re ready for immediate shipping. Users can wear it on your dominant hand that they are more likely to touch their faces with or get one for each arm to maximize the deterrent.

Meanwhile, social media sites including Twitter and Facebook are also putting efforts to raise awareness around the coronavirus pandemic by urging people to use sanitizers, avoid public places, and not touch their faces.

So far, the novel coronavirus has infected more than 113,000 people around the world and killed over 4,000, according to CNN 's tally.

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