Vibrating glove improves sense of touch

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology might have come across something which will definitely help one improve their sense of touch – via a vibrating glove which is currently in the prototype stage. This glove sports a special fingertip that was designed to improve your sense of touch, where a small vibration is applied to the side of the fingertip so that tactile sensitivity and motor performance are improved.

After all, previous research did point towards improved sight, hearing, balance control and touch when a certain level of white noise is introduced into the environment. The more scientific among you would call this stochastic resonance. This unique glove prototype is widely believed to be the first wearable stochastic resonance device of its kind, and in the future might be “used to assist individuals whose jobs require high-precision manual dexterity or those with medical conditions that reduce their sense of touch.”

Who knows? It might end up in a gaming peripheral down the road as well, although I would think the more practical implications in the working world would depend on it far more than zapping dead zombies that are trying to overrun the world.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: glove, prototype