Finding it hard to keep up the passion in a long-distance relationship? Help might be on the way.
A robotics professor in Singapore has invented a gadget equipped with motion-sensitive electronic “lips” that allow amorous, but absent couples exchange long-distance smooches via the Internet.
Shaped like a small head with oversize silicon lips, the “Kissenger” — short for Kiss Messenger — was unveiled last month at a scientific conference in Britain and is still being refined for commercial launch.
Photo: AFP
“It can be used between humans to improve their communication,” said Hooman Samani, its creator.
Couples just have to connect the devices to computers via USB cables, link up online and start kissing the silicon material to trigger sensors that move the gadget on the other side.
They can stare at each other on screen while exchanging kisses.
“The main issue is to transmit the force and pressure, and also the shape of the lip,” Samani said.
The “special silicon material” chosen for the lips offers “the best sensation and feeling,” said the scientist, who has personally tested the device.
However, the Kissenger is not yet ready for the market despite “a lot of offers” from interested parties because there are “ethical issues” that need to be resolved on top of the technical aspects, he said.
“Kissing is very intimate so in order to have a product in market which is going to deal with this sensitive issue, we have to do proper studies and investigation on the social point of view, cultural point of view,” he said.
The device is still being refined at a laboratory jointly set up by the National University of Singapore and Keio University of Japan.
Samani calls his field of study “lovotics” — research into the relationship between robots and humans — and the Kissenger is just one of several devices being developed by his team.
Three years after a deadly virus struck India’s endangered Asiatic lions in their last remaining natural habitat, conservationists are hunting for new homes to help booming prides roam free. The majestic big cats, slightly smaller than their African cousins and with a fold of skin along their bellies, were once found widely across southwest Asia. Hunting and human encroachment saw the population plunge to just 20 by 1913, and the lions are now found only in a wildlife sanctuary in India’s western Gujarat State. Following years of concerted government efforts, the lion population in Gir National Park has swelled to nearly 700, according
A rogue overgrown sheep found roaming through regional Australia has been shorn of his 35kg fleece — a weight even greater than that of the famous New Zealand sheep Shrek, who was captured in 2005 after six years on the loose. The merino ram, dubbed Baarack by rescuers, was discovered wandering alone with an extraordinarily overgrown wool coat, and was promptly shorn to save his life. Kyle Behrend, from the Edgar’s Mission farm sanctuary, said that it appeared Baarack was “once an owned sheep” who had escaped. Merino sheep do not shed their fleece and need to be shorn at least annually, as
‘GRAVE CONCERN’: A critic of the government died immediately following his complaints of torture at the hands of security forces, a human rights group said Students on Friday clashed with police in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, as anger mounted at the death of a writer and government critic in a high-security jail. At least 18 police and an unknown number of protesters were injured in the clashes, authorities and witnesses said, amid international demands for an independent investigation into the death of Mushtaq Ahmed. An Agence France-Presse correspondent witnessed police using batons and firing tear gas at students who staged a torchlight march calling for “justice” near the University of Dhaka. At least six students who allegedly attacked security forces with torches were detained, police said. More protests were planned
DMZ SWIM: Over more than three hours, South Korean surveillance cameras caught him eight times and audible alarms sounded twice, but border guards did not notice A North Korean defector wore a diving suit and fins during a daring six-hour swim around one of the world’s most fortified borders and was only caught after apparently falling asleep, a Seoul official said. South Korean forces did not spot the man’s audacious exploit, despite his appearance several times on surveillance cameras after he landed and triggered alarms, drawing heavy criticism from media and opposition lawmakers. Even after his presence was noticed, the man — who used diving gear to make his way by sea around the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the Korean Peninsula — was not caught for another
RSS