Fuzzy Bunny Is Haptic Cuteness
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 30 of May , 2008 at 7:17 pm
If you’ve ever owned a pet that wasn’t a fish, my guess is that you’ll agree that the sense most important to your relationship with your pet wasn’t sight or sound, but touch. It’s a little weird, then, that touch (and reaction to touch) has been largely ignored when it comes to interactive robotics. There are of course a few exceptions like Paro and Pleo, and if you’ve ever fondled a Pleo, it’s immediately apparent that the way the robot reacts to touch is what makes it so satisfying to interact with.
Steve Yohan, a researcher at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, has taken this idea to its logical conclusion with the creation of the Haptic Creature, a 100% furry robot rabbit that communicates only through touch. The creature has pressure sensors over its entire body, and responds to touching or stroking by making breathing motions, wiggling its ears, or purring. Yohan says that despite the lack of any other expressive features, users were easily able to determine whether the robot was responding in a negative or positive way.
There’s no way to buy a Haptic Creature, so you’ll have to stick with Paro if you want something fuzzy and cute. But my hope is that research like this will get attention of people like Ugobe, who’ll bring us an ice-age edition of Pleo with a thick woolly coat sometime soon.
VIA [ New Scientist ]
Category: Biorobotics, Research
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