Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Again, With Feeling

The latest innovation in an attempt to make movies and TV more stimulating is an interesting one. According to PSFK, researchers at Phillips Electronics just debuted a jacket lined with 64 vibration motors in an attempt to arouse emotional responses resulting from physical sensations.Each motor can be independently controlled, and the actuators are divided into 16 different arrays, with each four-motor array controlled by a dedicated processor. All the actuators are linked to each other on a serial bus and they are distributed through the jacket's arms and torso.

The Philips researchers claim that the purpose of this exercise is not necessarily to reproduce physical sensations from a film. They are more interested in determining what sort of emotional responses touch can elicit from a viewer. They call this "emotional immersion".

The possibilities and potential applications for the product, if it ever sees the light of day in terms of mass manufacturing, can have great implications for brands who are always seeking new ways of engaging consumers.

Via - PSFK