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Scientists have created a revolutionary VR experience that lets you feel the soft fur and gentle breathing of a cat.
A team of scientists from the University of Tokyo have made one of the biggest breakthroughs in the modern age: finally letting you feel the softness of a cute cat without actually having one on your lap.
It’s great news for anyone who is allergic to cute kitties, lost their copy of Nintendogs + Cats (couldn’t be me), or is afraid of being scratched to ribbons by man’s feline friend.
VR cat is the purrfect companion
As for how it works, the VR system uses sound waves to create tiny pulses of pressure on your skin, tricking your brain into feeling touch even though nothing is actually there.
It’s like if you walked into a room and felt a ghost tap you on your shoulder, but without the impending sense of sheer horror and dread.
Instead of scaring their participants with ghostly apparitions, the study used sound waves to replicate the fluffiness of the virtual cat’s fur and the sensation of it breathing by using subtle expanding and contracting sensations.
ACM Digital Library
Researchers also added fur-like feedback, with different sensations depending on whether their test subjects stroked the cat along or against the direction of its fur. The VR cat was also designed to react in calming ways, including purring, dozing off, yawning, and turning its gaze toward the user’s hand (hopefully not to bite it).
Interestingly, the VR experience led to a significant drop in heart rate among participants. So, if you’ve ever wanted the purrfect pixelated companion that doesn’t constantly meow for attention, wake you up at 3am every day, or knock over your $7,000 anime girl figure, then VR kitties could be the way to go.
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