You can now send a physical kiss to your long-distance lover over the internet, thanks to a new smartphone gadget developed by researchers.
The device, known as Kissenger, works with pressure sensors and actuators.
It records the user’s kiss and transmits it to an identical receiving device, which recreates it for the person on the other end through an app that also features videocalling.
“Kissing is the most direct and universal expression of intimacy and affection,” said Emma Yann Zhang, who worked on the prototype as PhD student at City University London.
“It’s a way for us to bond and maintain intimacy in our relationships,” she said.
“Also, it stresses reducing; when we engage in this kind of intimate physical touch, we have a lower level of blood pressure,” Zhang was quoted as saying by the ‘Mirror’.
Parents can also use Kissenger to give their children a kiss on the cheek when they are away at work, researchers said.
Long-distance relationships are hard. Even though smartphones and the internet help bring us closer, physical contact can make all the difference.
A new device called Kissenger hopes to bridge the gap separating long-distance loved ones. Developed by researchers in Adrian David Cheok’sImagineering Lab and Imagineering Institute in Iskandar, Malaysia, Kissenger simulates a kiss using pressure sensors and actuators, while users are video chatting through an iOS application.
“The Kissenger device was built for people to better express intimacy and emotion remotely through internet kissing,” Emma Yann Zhang, a PhD student at City University London, told Digital Trends. “It aims to fill in the missing dimension of touch in traditional digital communication, which largely focuses on verbal and audio information. We believe that physical touch is the most important channel to communicate one’s emotions and to maintain close relationships with your loved ones on the other side of the world.”
Kissenger isn’t the first of such devices to emerge from the Imagineering Lab. Cheok’s past projects have included the Huggy Pajama and RingU, both of which digitally transmit the sensation of touch from one wearer to another.
To be sure, these devices aren’t exclusively designed for couples. Zhang insists families could benefit from the added affection as well. And it apparently isn’t limited to human-human interaction, either.
The researchers demonstrated Kissenger last month at the Love and Sex With Robots conference in London, where experts and enthusiasts discussed the growing implications of sexualized androids. In that vein, the Imagineering Lab is also planning to integrate the device into a kissing humanoid robot with interactive lips. “With new types of technologies and interfaces that enable physical intimacy between humans and robots,” Zhang said, addressing a subject that remains controversial, “I believe that we can form more humanistic and intimate relationships with robots.”
For now the researchers are looking for commercial partners and investors to bring Kissenger to market so you too can soon smooch your long distance partner.
Una superficie in silicone registra pressione e durata del bacio per poi riprodurla su un dispositivo simile
Kissinger
Non è facile esprimere i propri sentimenti in chat. Quando le parole non bastano siamo soliti ricorrere alle emoji ma se anche queste non sono abbastanza, cosa fare? Bé, c’è Kissinger.
Curiosa idea made in UK, è una cover che si connette al telefono e ti permette di spedire baci realistici a un altro utente dotato del Kissinger. La cover, sotto, ha una parte in silicone dotata di pistoncini e sensori su cui poggiare le labbra. Questa registra pressione e durata del bacio mentre il destinatario può poggiare la superficie in silicone su labbra o guancia per sentire sulla pelle una riproduzione del bacio ricevuto.
Va detto che al momento Kissinger è solo un prototipo, non può essere acquistato e, a dirla tutta, non sappiamo neanche quanto il bacio sia realistico. Per saperlo bisognerà aspettare che gli ideatori, due ricercatori dell’Imagineering Lab della City University of London, lo facciano diventare realtà. Per ora quindi non ci rimane che consultare il sito web dedicato per conoscere ogni aggiornamento in merito.
Kissenger é um novo aparelho que permitirá aos utilizadores enviarem e sentirem beijos à distância
Kissenger. (reprodução vídeo Youtube)
Batizado como Kissenger, uma mistura de Kiss (beijo) com Messenger, este novo aparelho permite aos utilizadores beijarem-se à distância.
O aparelho, que é uma espécie de almofada em silicone, deve ser acoplado ao smartphone. Para enviar um beijo, terá de beijar a almofada e esperar que a pressão seja identificada pela aplicação. Depois de identificada, o sinal é enviado para outro dispositivo e o beijo será reproduzido da forma mais real.
De acordo com o Mashable, o aparelho criado por estudantes universitários, em Londres, ainda é um protótipo e parece só estar disponível para iOS.
Ogadget Kissenger tem sensores e simuladores que permitem a um utilizador beijá-lo e a outro, à distância, receber esse beijo. O beijo “digital” não envolve língua e replica um beijo na face ou nos lábios, explica o The Verge.
O aparelho é comercializado em conjunto com uma app e consiste num pedaço de silicone que deve ser ligado a um tablet através da entrada jack 3,5mm, habitualmente dedicada aos auscultadores. O utilizador deve encostar os seus lábios ao silicone que mede a pressão em determinados pontos e replica-a no Kissenger do recetor.
Nesta fase, ainda não passa de um protótipo, criado apenas para iOS, e não há qualquer indicador sobre a disponibilidade comercial deste gadget.
Veja um vídeo publicado pelo The Gadget Show, no YouTube, sobre o Kissenger.
Mandar um beijo a quem está longe, e essa pessoa sentir o beijo que lhe mandou. Será possível? Há quem diga que sim, com o “Kiss messenger”.
Setem uma relação à distância, o “kiss messenger” foi feito para si: a invenção permite-lhe enviar beijos para quem quiser através de um iPhone.
Uma das missões dos gadgets de hoje em dia é adicionar um toque humano às conversações, revela o Mashable. O Kissenger é o “kiss messenger” que promete reproduzir o seu beijo no dispositivo da pessoa a quem quer enviá-lo. É uma almofada em silicone que regista a pressão dos seus lábios para a aplicação e se adapta aos telemóveis como se fosse uma extensão.
A pessoa a quem se destina este “beijo” pode depois pressionar esta almofada contra os seus lábios e recebê-lo desta forma, mas ainda não é certo quão real este beijo pode vir a parecer.
Segundo o site Mashable, o Kissenger ainda é um protótipo, disponível apenas para iPhones — mais tarde, pode vir a ser adaptado para outro tipo de telemóveis. Liga-se aos aparelhos através da entrada para os auscultadores e foi criado pelos académicos do Imagineering Lab da City University, em Londres.
Editado por Mariana de Araújo Barbosa (mariana.barbosa@eco.pt)
Tolle Neuigkeiten für Paare, die in einer Fernbeziehung stecken. Bald schon nämlich könnten Küsse Raum und Zeit überwinden und bequem per Smartphone verschickt werden: An der Technologie-Konferenz “Love and Sex with Robots” in London hat die Studentin Emma Yann Zhang einen entsprechenden Handy-Aufsatz und die dazugehörige App präsentiert. Der Kissenger kann Berührungen erkennen und weitergeben.
Das Gadget ähnelt einer zu groß geratenen Handy-Hülle und verfügt über ein angestecktes Silikonkissen, dessen Sensor-Oberfläche die Berührungen der Lippen scannt. Um dem Freund oder der Freundin einen Kuss zu übermitteln, schmust man folglich zuallererst mit dem Silikonkissen, bis es die Berührungen registriert hat und dem Empfänger mit selbigem Zubehör zuschickt. Dieser muss dann ebenfalls den Mund auf das Kissen legen, um den Fernkuss zu spüren.
Im Inneren des Silikonkissens befinden sich hierfür kleine Motoren, die die Berührung naturgetreu auf dem Smartphone des Empfängers wiedergeben. Der Videochat in der dazugehörigen App ermöglicht es zugleich, den küssenden Partner oder die Partnerin auf dem Smartphone-Display zu sehen.
Kissenger steht am Anfang der Entwicklung
Allerdings handelt es sich beim Kissenger erst um einen Prototypen. In einem nächsten Schritt will die Studentin Zhang Blutdruck und Herzfrequenzen von Kissenger-Probanden messen, um festzustellen, ob das Handyzubehör mit echten Küssen von Mensch zu Mensch mithalten kann. Ob Kissenger in naher Zukunft auf den Markt kommt, ist nicht bekannt.
10 Fakten übers Küssen
10 interessante Fakten übers Küssen
Küssen ist schön. Aber nicht nur das. Küssen ist auch interessant, wie diese 10 Fakten beweisen! (Foto: Fotolia)
And some women might soon be competing with technology for their men.
At least 40% of European men surveyed say they’re willing to put up cash to purchase a robotic lover that will endlessly put out.
Jessica Szczuka divulged her findings on Monday at the Love and Sex With Robots congress at London’s Goldsmiths University.
Szczuka, who hails from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, reported nearly half of males interviewed claimed they could imagine using a sex robot within the next five years.
We’ve known for years that robots are the future of everything, TV has told us so.
While you’d be happy for one to wash your dishes or iron your clothes, however, you might not have thought that they’d end up as your go-to bedmate of choice.
According to researchers, though, not only are sex robots on their way, they could be so good at the extra curricular activity that it puts human life in danger.
How? Well, Swiss researcher Oliver Bendel has warned an audience at the Second International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots (sadly that is a thing), that it’s because they’ll never tire.
If the thought of getting down and dirty with a machine isn’t enough to put your off the state of the human race’s future, how’s being humped to death by a sex robot sound? Not too appealing, no?
“If the machine over-exerts the human, it reduces the possibility of human sex,” he said.
That’s not all we’ve got to worry about from robot lovers either.
As well as being inexhaustible lovers, Bendel suggests that robots could be so good at getting your rocks off, that traditional human lovers will pale in comparison.
That could mean fewer people actually procreating and humans going to way of the dinosaurs – sort of.
Don’t worry though, all of this scarier than the Terminator tech is still a long way off yet. Until then you’ll just have to make do with the latest tech-enhancement to your love life, VR.
The robot uprising is coming, but it looks like the machines are going to try befriend us before taking over the world.
Despite what films like Terminator and iRobot have taught us, scientists have predicted the next couple of decades will see us entering relationships with, and even marrying, robots rather than taking up arms against our new droid masters.
At least that’s the viewpoint of Dr David Levy, author of the bestselling book ‘Love and Sex with Robots’, who has boldly predicted “The first marriage will be before, not after 2050.”
Speaking at a London based congress named after his book, Dr Levy suggested the rate of robot advancements, and their increased humanoid presence will soon see the lines blurred with what is and isn’t deemed morally acceptably between man and machine.
“We’re being forced to contemplate what human-robot relationships will be like a generation or two from now,” he said. “As love and sex with robots becomes more commonplace, we should come face to face with the very real possibility of marriage with robots.
“When robots are sufficiently human-like, sufficiently appealing socially, to the point where they can act as our companions, why not extend that companionship to marriage if neither party is against the idea?”
It’s not just marriage that’s on the cards either. Sex robots are already on the rise, and this could lead to weird relationships that us bags of flesh and bone are simply unable to remove our emotions from.
“As more and more people come to accept the concepts of sex and love with robots, so societies will develop laws that govern human-robot relationships,” Dr Levy stated in his speech.
“By the time there are no laws to prevent human-robot marriages, robots will be patient, kind, subjective, loving, interesting, truthful, persevering, respectful, uncomplaining, pleasant to talk to and showing a sense of humour.
“And the robots of the future will not be jealous, boastful, arrogant, rude, self-seeking or easily angered, unless of course you want them to be.”
Given that Dr Levy has predicted the first human-robot marriage is less than 35 years away, it’s possible that the first human to wed a machine has already been born. Creepy.
