Cybernetic System to Allow Physical Interaction

Ant writes "Wired News reports researchers have developed a cybernetic system to allow physical interaction over the Internet. The system allows touching and feeling of animals or other humans in real time, but it's first being tried out on -- chickens. The Touchy Internet Built was by a wacky group of researchers at the Mixed Reality Lab at the National University of Singapore (NUS)."

Comments

Re:Handjobs?

[sleeper0]

When showcased at the Version 05 arts festival in Chicago, viewers suggested using the system for internet sex. Experts dismiss the whole idea as silly.

"Current haptic displays typically allow a user to interact with a virtual or remote environment through a tool," says Allison M. Okamura, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. "Hence, the systems feel like you are poking at the world through a stick. A major challenge is providing the user with more delicate tactile sensations, such as feeling that occurs when one draws her finger over a rough or smooth surface. This kind of realism is difficult to achieve."

How about medical uses...

[bagboy]

Some doctors are already using robots remotely to diagnose patients... In Alaskan remote communities, something like this can eventually provide remote robotic surgery with sensory feedback...

I guess the chicken is the part of this that is...

[Assmasher]

...'new'?

There have been 2-way haptic feedback systems since the early 90's (and probably before that but I am not personally aware of them.)

I personally used a 20+ sensor cyberglove on an SGI IR that was networked to another modified cyberglove in order to transmit tactile response both to and from the target (in this case a rubber ball.) That was in 1997.