Pedro Lopes from MIT has been doing some fantastic work on combining image sensing and providing feedback to the human. Typical VR (Virtual Reality) setup’s are problematic because though user can see things they cannot feel it. Pedro is using electrical stimulation to provide feedback as this video shows:
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But take that a step further. If you can trigger a muscle then you can certainly make it do your bidding. Now that plotter is something…since it could make an artist out of us. Or we have a good excuse to say why we did something outside our control.
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And if you can “see” the object then you can make it send feedback back to the user. Whether through the pen in the first video or through a 3D location.
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Observe how people doing this say “It does not want to be touched” or “it wants me to…” We make things abstract and ascribe behavior to inanimate objects.