REMOTE PRESENCE (with closed eyes)
Exploratorium / New York University
2004 ACM SIGGRAPH Paper:
The Body's Surface as a Multimedia Interface: Closed-Eyes Nonverbal Telehaptic Communication
2003 AIAA Paper:
Immersive Virtual Reality as a Countermeasure for Dysphoria in Space/Expeditionary Environments
2004 The Science of Consciousness (TSC) Tucson:
The Body’s Surface as a Multimedia Interface: Closed-Eyes Telehaptic Communication Technology as a Tool for Consciousness Research
Inspired by research suggesting that people could communicate while asleep and dreaming, I set out to create a prototype that would allow users to feel each other's presence without physical contact. My goal was to prompt people to think about intimacy and human interaction in new ways, leveraging advances in technology to extend shared human experiences into uncharted territories.
The challenge was to develop a system that enabled physically distant individuals to experiment with shared quiet and relaxed mental states while awake, leveraging the Internet. The design goals were to provide an immersive sense of shared physical presence and the ability to communicate subtly and non-verbally. The constraints were closed eyes and minimal sensory stimulation and bodily movement.
Interestingly, this prototype caught the attention of NASA as a potential solution for making long-distance communication as close, tangible, and "real" as possible. The aim was to lessen the isolation, loneliness, and potential depression experienced by astronauts separated from friends or family over extended periods.
In this version, users navigate the virtual space with their eyes closed by tilting their head, which functions as a joystick. Each user feels the other remote user's real-time monitored heartbeat via one of eight digitally controlled miniature vibrators in the helmet. For example, if the remote user is to their right in the virtual space, the hat vibrator on the right vibrates with each heartbeat, with the intensity varying based on the proximity of the users. Additionally, users hear 3D spatialized audio of the other user's monitored respiration as two musical notes—one for inhalation and another for exhalation.
Similar to the first version, users navigate the space with closed eyes by tilting their head. In this case, each user feels the other remote user's exhalations via one of eight digitally controlled fans encircling their head. For instance, if the remote user is to their right in the virtual space, the fan on the right blows with each exhalation, with the intensity varying based on the proximity of the users. Users also hear 3D spatialized audio of the other user's real-time monitored heartbeat.