The controller was designed by a team of engineers at the University of Utah, headed by professor William Provancher. It achieves more accurate and versatile tactile feedback via the red nubs in its joysticks, which are called tactors. The tactors can move like joysticks, making it easier to enhance the gaming experience. For example, they can move side to side to emulate the sensation of being on water, provide location-specific cues and more. Watch the video below to get a better idea of the tactors.

Let me just say that Nobuo Uematsu is a freakin’ genius. That music gets me pumped up and makes me patiently wait for my turn to attack. Going back to the controller, Provancher believes that the tactors would also work in other applications, such as game controllers in mobile devices and as navigation guidance in vehicles. I’d like a pair of gloves with tactors on the tips. Marry that with gesture-based interfaces like the Kinect and holograms and we’ll be immersed all right.

[via University of Utah via Joystiq]

UBC already had its hands on a robotic bunny, developed by Steve Yohannon which partially simulates an actual pet, complete with a pulse and ears which can stiffen or relax. However, interactions are currently tracked with a bunch of biofeedback wires attached to test subjects, which can clearly interfere with their comfort and stress levels.

In order to eliminate that variable, grad student Anna Flagg is developing something they’re calling “Smart Fur” which can actually sense things like being pet, scratched, and other touch gestures. It can even sense breath. They’re hoping the technology can be used to detect the emotional state of the individual interacting with the robo-bunny, so they can determine if robotic pets could actually help people in the same way as a real pet.

At this point, they’ve only got a small swatch of the furry sensor fabric, but the plan is to integrate the fur into the robotic rabbit so they can conduct testing with children and see if the fur-covered robo-pet could be beneficial to them.

[via MSN via Gizmodiva]

Designed and built by Steve Hoefer, the Tacit glove uses two sonar ping sensors to measure distances around its wearer. The relative distance is then fed back to the user thanks to two servos, which apply pressure to the back of the wrist, helping them avoid obstacles and better judging distances.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Tacit uses an Arduino pro mini to control the sonar sensors and provide feedback to the servos. The whole thing runs off a 9-volt battery, and is completely self-contained.

What’s even more impressive is that the Tacit is actually a Creative Commons licensed DIY project. You can actually make one or have it made for you by someone who’s good with electronics. Steve provides a parts list, schematic and source code here.

[via Hack-a-Day]

The haptic belts use an array of vibrating motors called tactors that are spaced at 45-degree intervals. One tactor points in each direction the solider might need to go. As they move along a path noted by waypoints, the tactors will vibrate and point them in the correct direction. To make the device even cooler, the belt can also be connected to a glove worn by the leader so that they vibrate in response to hand signals.

For instance, all the tactors can vibrate when the commander gives the halt hand signal and when the move out signal is given the tactors can vibrate in a back to front motion. The haptic belts can even be programmed by a remote command center to steer squads on a new path based on intel they might not have on the ground.

The haptic belt project is being conducted by Elmar Schmeisser and a team at the Army Research Office in North Carolina.

[via New Scientist via Dvice]

Anyway, I’ve begun transferring some of these files via USB to my laptop, which has been a slow and arduous process thus far. What I do is right-click on the folder, check the size, and see if it will fit into the USB drive or not. Jan Barth and Roman Grasy’s DataBot concept mouse can’t really tell you the size of that file or folder, but what it does is let you feel how huge that folder is by making it harder for you to move the mouse, along with vibration feedback.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

In order to work, the DataBot mouse adds a rolling ball and a servo-motor to a modern optical mouse, which seems sort of like a step backwards.

[via Engadget via Dvice]

When the iPhone is placed on top of your palm, an image of a palm (not yours) loads onto the screen, and then you can rub your finger on the touchscreen, tricking your brain into thinking you’re tickling your own palm. In addition, they’ve set up a two-person mode which lets you tickle someone else’s hand from across the room.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While the visual illusion should be enough to trigger the sensation of being tickled in most people, the addition of vibration (currently done via audio, and not the iPhone’s vibration motor) seals the deal.

The whole idea seems completely surperfluous to me, but mabe there’s some sort of remote interaction idea here which would allow couples to feel each other up from afar. Between this, the remote-kissing machine, and advances in teledildonics, pretty soon you’ll never have to be bothered with actually touching anyone again.

[via DigInfo.TV]

Of course, the 16GB Latte Espresso PMP can play music and video files, but it’s also got a touchscreen with tactile feedback, so you can actually feel a pronounced “click” when you interact with buttons and controls on the screen. The media player also features a “G-sensor” which automatically rotates the apps and display to match the angle of the player’s 3-inch (420×240 resolution) display.

Audio formats supported include MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE, OGG, and AAC (without DRM). Video can be played back in AVI, WMV, RM, RMVB, 3GP, MPG, MP4 or FLV formats. There’s also a built-in FM radio, but it doesn’t receive HD radio or RDS information like other the new Zune HD does. But what do you want for $99 bucks? On the other hand, it can actually broadcast its audio signal to a nearby FM radio without any extra hardware.

As is often the case with these jack-of-all-trades media players, it also includes other miscellaneous apps like voice recording, a text reader, a stopwatch and a photo browser, but none of them sound like anything special.

Released earlier this year with a list price of $199 (USD), you can now get your hands on a Latte Espresso over on Amazon for just $99.99. If you’re wondering if you should take the plunge, 4dthinker has a detailed review of the Latte Espresso, along with all its pros and cons.

Unlike most force devices which simply vibrate or drag, the Novint Falcon lets you control in 3-dimensions and actually can push against your grip with as much as 2 pounds of force. The controller could be used for everything from medical training to some really immersive video gaming.  The device can create realistic impressions of weight, recoil and shock, making it perfect for FPS games. Imagine being able to reach out and grab a “baddie” in a game, and actually have him pull against you. How about an online match of arm-wrestling against your friend on the other side of the country?

While the device probably won’t be useful for day-to-day computer control, if you’ve got a couple hundred bucks to drop (pre-orders are $189, including 24 mini-games) it looks like it could be pretty cool.

[via SciFi Tech]

The Samsung SCH-W559 phone provides users with a vibration that approximates the sensation of a key click when they interact with the phone’s touchscreen. The QVGA color touchscreen display also supports handwriting recognition. The quad-band phone also features typical media phone capabilities including a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and audio/video playback. As the phone is currently not available outside of Asia, I’m hoping this feature will find its way into some products stateside.

[via NewLaunches]