Museum visitors will be able to get the feel of exhibits too delicate to be touched, by wearing a 鈥渉aptic glove鈥� developed by NTT in Japan. Based on a 3D map of the object generated from a pair of video cameras, the glove exerts pressure on the user鈥檚 hand that matches what they would feel if they were touching the object itself. The glove could also be used in online meetings to provide virtual handshakes.
Sony鈥檚 robotic dog Aibo is finding its way around by mimicking a rat鈥檚 brain. Alfredo Weitzenfeld of the ITAM technical institute in Mexico City and colleagues designed software that mimics the neurons that give rats a sense of place. When loaded with the software, Aibo was able to recognise places it had been, distinguish between locations that look alike, and determine its location when placed somewhere new.
