Remote-controlled humans

Oh wow, check out this article in Forbes about a technology that can be used to remotely control the direction a person aims toward. If this ever became mainstream, just imagine hordes of drunken-appearing attendees weaving their way through the aisles of a trade show as exhibitors try to sway them to come to their booths! (If you go there, check out the video—she really does look drunk.)

At the 2005 SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference in Los Angeles this week, NTT researchers debuted a device designed to exploit the effects of GVS. Known as "Shaking the World," the project is the result of research carried out by NTT researcher Taro Maeda. Maeda and his colleagues constructed a headphone-like apparatus to deliver the electrical current and a small radio control to direct the strength and direction of the signal. Whoever wears such headphones can be steered by remote control.





Conference attendees lined up to try to maintain their balance as an NTT spokesperson gently steered them left and right. Some attempted to counteract the current's effects, while others almost ran into the crowd of onlookers as they stumbled haplessly along. But nearly everyone was curious.





Where might this research lead?

Nowhere I want to go, except maybe it'd be useful for flight simulation training. I can see it being incorporated into theme park rides, too, as another way to make virtual reality a little more real.