Saturday, April 09, 2005
Stroke the chicken
A professor in Singapore has invented a device that allows you to pet your pet remotely. He built a doll shaped like a chicken with small vibrators and sensors embedded under the skin, and a separate jacket with similar vibrators and sensors that you put over a real pet such as a chicken. Remember that this is Singapore and maybe people do keep chickens as pets over there. The idea is that as you stroke the doll (he calls that "fondling the chicken"), the vibrators and sensors on the doll communicate via internet with the vibrators and sensors on the live chicken, and the chicken feels your stroking and you feel the chicken responding. So if you love your pet but are allergic to it, or are too busy to be home with it, you could use this device to bond with the pet from a distance. Just make sure your neighbors don't see you doing it.
I am sure that the thing could be made to work with people too, and have thought of quite a few applications for it already!
In case you doubt this scientific research, here is more information from the Professor's web site at National University of Singapore:
Poultry Internet
Poultry are one of the most badly treated animals in the modern world. It has been shown that they have high levels of both cognition and feelings and as a result there has been a recent trend of promoting poultry welfare. There is also a tradition of keeping poultry as pets in some parts of the world. However in modern cities and societies it is often difficult to maintain contact with pets, particularly for office workers. We propose and describe a novel cybernetics system to use mobile and Internet technology to improve human-to-pet interaction. It can also be used for people who are allergic to touching animals and thus cannot stroke them directly. This interaction encompasses both visualization and tactile sensation of real objects.
In the figure above, the pet owner touches the doll, and at the same time feels the movement of the doll as driven by a positioning mechanism table. The pet (we use a rooster) is shown with a "pet dress" worn on its body. The pet dress consists of electronics that simulates touch (or haptic) sensation. It feels it when the pet owner fondles with the doll. The advantage of this system is to bring the sense of physical and emotional presence between man and animal. It thus attempts to recapture our sense of togetherness with our animal friends, just like times gone by on the prairie, village, or jungle.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 6:30 AM
