Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans
From: Associated Press - 10/26/2005
By: Yuri Kageyama

The Japanese company Nippon Telegraph & Telephone is developing video game
technology where remote controls guide the movements of people, known as
galvanic vestibular stimulation. The subject wears a headset that conveys a
low-voltage jolt of electric current to the ears and head, traveling either
to the left or the right, depending on the movements of a joystick, which
correspond to the direction in which the human walks. NTT senior research
scientist Taro Maeda says, "We call this a virtual dance experience." There
is not a clear scientific explanation as to why humans respond to electric
currents in the ear, though the researchers have demonstrated the ability to
make a subject walk in the shape of a pretzel with the device, but have yet
to formulate plans for a commercial application. The researchers hope a
similar program that controls a subject's movements according to music will
catch the attention of Apple's researchers for use in the iPod. Boston
University biomedical engineering professor James Collins says gamers likely
would "get a kick out of the illusions that can be created to give them a
more total immersion experience as part of virtual reality."  

Read the entire story at:
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/051025/ap/d8df9f1of.html

Links:
Taro Maeda
http://www.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~maeda/index.html

Human Remote Control
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/tc/102605humanremote

Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/remote_control_for_humans;_ylt=AlG4cGyaSNFa7Brqcsy6Xp3lWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA--

Japan developing remote control for humans
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/10/25/human.remote.control.ap/index.html

A remote control that controls humans
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9816703/

Remote-Controlled Humans (with video)
http://digg.com/technology/Remote-Controlled_Humans_(with_video)

Remote-controlled humans enhance immersive games
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7829