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Radio
Control Human - A Remote Control
that Controls Humans!
Remote
controlled humans might sound a
bizarre and nightmarish prospect,
but Japanese researchers hope to
utilize the technology for
computer
gaming.
By
remotely stimulating a person's
vestibular system - the
fluid-filled tubes in the inner
ear that guide their sense of
balance - with electrodes placed
on the skin just below the ear,
researchers at NTT's research
laboratories in Kanagawa have
found a way to turn humans into
oversized radio controlled
vehicles. The technique, known as
galvanic vestibular stimulation
(GVS), unbalances a person so
that they automatically veer left
or right in an attempt to
rebalance themselves. The NTT
team developed a headset and a
control unit similar to that used
with remote-controlled toy cars.
The research project went on
public display at the 2005
SIGGRAPH, in Los Angeles, US.
Volunteers were given a chance to
experience GVS and, to the
amusement of other visitors, were
seen careening around the show
floor under demonstrators'
control. A US patent already
exists for using GVS as a virtual
reality tool. The approach was
pioneered in the late 1990s by a
company called Virtual
Motion.
Taro
Maeda and colleagues at NTT
believe the system could
primarily be used to make
computer games feel more
realistic. In a driving game, for
example, a player could feel
gravity shift as their car
hurtles through a tight bend. GVS
may also find use as a medical
therapy, helping patients who
have an impaired sense of
balance.
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