14 DAY TRIAL // Have you noticed that most robot-related news come from Japan? Well, let's see, Sony's AIBO was the first robot dog to recognize words and objects, Honda's ASIMO is the first humanoid robot that can walk on two feet in a manner resembling human locomotion and the first working prototype of an artificial hand that can flex using air muscles and can perform the most delicate tasks was made by the Japanese company Squse.
Of course, the latest development in the field belongs to, as you have already guessed, the Japanese. Is it just me or are they like a century ahead of the rest of the world? What comes next, after the hand? The glove.
The robotic glove actually fits on your hand and allows you to touch a 3D virtual image. Yeap, it's true. According to NTT Comware, the software development unit of telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, the new system is a sensory enhancer, that lets you fell "the shape and softness" of three-dimensional images on a computer.
Call it "tangible 3D" or just call it impressive. The fact is, you don't need the strange looking 3D glasses to see a far-away object on screen as if it were a tridimensional physical object right in front of you. The practical applications of this technology could even reach video phones, said engineer Shiro Ozawa.
"You would be able to take the hand, or gently pat the head, of your beloved grandchild who lives away from you," he said.
This device relies on "haptics," the study of touching behavior. Being an extremely important sense for humans, by providing valuable information about surfaces and textures, this seems to be the most recent target for electronics producers around the world.
Haptic technology refers to technology which interfaces the user via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations and/or motions to the user. This mechanical stimulation is used to create haptic virtual objects.
The manufacturing company said that if the person linked to the system moved around, the 3D image of that person would also move, in real-time and the users would feel as if they were being pulled along if the image moved while grasping your hand.
Let's face it, the first android aboard an intergalactic starship won't be called Data but Yamada .