Virtual purring
May 29th, 2008 by rbanks
Robots: Haptic Bunny Makes Your Heart go Hippity-Hop
“I had a cat for many years, and what I miss most about interacting with her is touch,” says Steve. So he designed the furry rabbit robot to be laced with pressure sensors so it can sense where and how it’s being touched or stroked. It then responds by making breathing-like motions, purring vibrations, or ear wiggles. And though it sounds like a whacky bit of science, apparently a research study at the University of British Columbia showed that people who stroked the bunny had an emotional response even to this limited feedback, and could identify the bunny’s “emotions” across a range of negative to positive.”
Gizmodo
