What if objects could communicate with us

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:

{youtube}OcSmCamMKfs{/youtube}

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.

{youtube}On738nXm5AM{/youtube}

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.

{youtube}Gz4dphzBb6I{/youtube}

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.

 

 

Similar Posts

  • |

    Novel Catalyst

    There are many reactions in biology that are catalyzed by enzymes but there are other reactions in industrial chemistry that use industrial catalysts which have primarily been platinum based. A paper in Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-68432-1 promises a unique shaped catalyst that can split H-H bond and other reactions. It is a unique structure and promises to…

  • ALS needs

      Technologists often think that the solution to most problems can be solved with technology and when you ask people what can help them – they often also answer technology. For example on the Facebook page of Prize for life the patients with ALS were asked what can help them and here are the 12…

  • Quantum computing

    On May 15th Dr McGeoch of Amherst University presented a paper about a test that was done to compare computers running conventional binary logic with computers using quantum computing chips. It is fascinating to see that the quantum computers have made the leap from just theory to actual machines. There were 3 tests done and…