
New Virtual Reality Interface Enables “Touch” Across Long Distances - vinnyglennon
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-virtual-reality-interface-enables-touch-across-long-distances/
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king07828
No pics in the SciAm article. The Nature article includes pics:

[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1687-0](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1687-0)

EDIT, NOTE: when clicking from inside the SciAm article, the Nature article
was displayed. Clicking on the link from HN shows a paywall.

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hirundo
The rapid progress in VR -- the fact that our reality is so amenable to it --
is evidence that we're already soaking in it. Dial up touch interfaces to 11
along with the other senses, and you could convince a baby that it is
experiencing reality. If the baby grows up in a VR suit to become a physicist,
she could discover the laws of nature in terms of frame rates and pixel
densities.

The great challenge of VR science is finding the off button. But then, if we
find it, we're just at the start of the same quest again.

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oliveshell
Finding the off button isn’t difficult: all you have to do is rip off the
uncomfortable hardware that’s clamped to your face.

I’d argue that the “great challenge” is developing a system where the user
doesn’t become sweaty or get a headache after a few hours.

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pfisch
I think the op is suggesting that we are all in vr all the time like the
matrix.

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Pfhreak
> This stack of electronics, slightly thinner than a mouse pad, culminates in
> a tacky surface that sticks to the skin.

I love my vr headset, but putting it on is already too much of a hassle to do
regularly. Asking me to put something sticky on my hands? Forget about it.

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ifdefdebug
> (...) a wireless patch on the child’s back vibrates in a pattern that
> matches his mother’s fingers, allowing him to “feel” her physical touch.

As a father, I stopped reading right here. You can't treat your child like
this, please don't.

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stevekemp
If it can be used for sex it'll spread like wildfire.

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EvanAnderson
Obligatory reference to the 1990 FuFMe April fools joke:
[http://www.easylife.org/fufme/](http://www.easylife.org/fufme/)

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teddyh
That is an old joke, so some context may be in order: the name is a reference
to the then-common “CU-SeeMe” videoconferencing software:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CU-SeeMe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CU-
SeeMe)

