A
new technological innovation has emerged which allows people to kiss
their partners even if they are far away from each other.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
A woman demonstrating with Kissenger
Long distance relationships are always tough, and the lack of
physical interaction is one of the main reasons for that. There’s no
substituting human touch, yet, but rapidly-advancing technology already
provides some intriguing alternatives. One such example is the
Kissenger, a smartphone peripheral that allows users to kiss over long
distances.
The concept of long-distance kissing has been an intriguing
research concept for over half a decade now. Back in 2012, we wrote
about the Kissenger, a solution created by Dr. Hooman Samani, Director
of AIART Lab (Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Technology
Laboratory) in Singapore. It consisted of two internet-connected
bunny-shaped robots with big silicone lips that could send the touch of
human lips between each-other to (sort of) simulate a kiss between two
human beings. Samani described it as a “a physical interface enabling
kiss communication”.
The Kissinger made international news headlines when it was
originally revealed, but it never translated into an actual consumer
product. However, the idea of transmitting human kisses over long
distances remained popular, and, earlier this month, Emma Yann Zhang, a
Computer Science PhD student at City University London, presented her
own take on the idea, also called the Kissenger.
Kissenger
Derived from the words ‘kiss’ and ‘messenger’, the Kissenger works
in a similar way as Dr. Samani’s Kissenger, but features a much more
practical design. Instead of a cute robot connected to a computer, the
Kissenger takes the shape of a smartphone cover, with a large, oval
silicone “lip” at the bottom. All the user has to do is plant a wet one
on this silicone pad and built-in high precision force sensors register a
user’s lip movements, while miniature linear actuators replicate those
movements on a second device used by the person being kissed.
The Kissenger aims to replicate romantic kisses, but as Emma Yann
Zhang says, the device can also be used by parents to give their
children a kiss on the cheek when they are away at work. The PhD student
presented her invention at the recent Love and Sex with Robots
conference, where she said that humans will inevitably become more
intimate with A.I. or robots, and being able to share a kiss will play a
big part in that kind of relationship.
Zhang admits that her invention still requires a fair bit of work
to create a lifelike kissing experience, but she is already working to
improve it. She and her team are working on a way to build scent into
the Kissenger, so that users can also get the authentic smell of the
person they want to kiss. They also want to record data about blood
pressure and heart rate to see if users are affected in the same way
that they are by a real kiss.
The Kissenger is still a long way from becoming a real consumer
product, but the concept of long-distance kissing is definitely
evolving.
***
Via Oddity Central
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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