Gloves that ‘touch and feel’ invented by scientists for couples

Washington D.C.: Can phone calls, FaceTime and Skype conversations substitute the physical touch of your partner in long distance relationship? Good news! Scientists have designed a pair of interconnected gloves, where the fingers 'flex' in one glove and the actions are transmitted to a remote partner wearing the other.

Study author Carman Neustaedter from Simon Fraser University in Canada said, "It's all about feeling connected."Researchers have designed a pair of interconnected gloves called 'Flex-N-Feel'.When fingers 'flex' in one glove, the actions are transmitted to a remote partner wearing the other. The glove's tactile sensors allow the wearer to 'feel' the movements.

"Users can make intimate gestures such as touching the face, holding hands, and giving a hug," Neustaedter stated."The act of bending or flexing one's finger is a gentle and subtle way to mimic touch," Neustaedter added.To capture the flex actions, the sensors are attached to a microcontroller and provide a value for each bend and are transmitted to the 'feel' glove using a WiFi module.The sensors are also placed strategically on the palm side of the fingers in order to better feel the touch. A soft-switch on both gloves also allows either partner to initiate the touch.

Other projects also focus on shared experiences, including a virtual reality video conferencing system that lets one "see through the eyes" of a remote partner, and another that enables users to video-stream a remote partner's activities to a long-distance partner at home (called Be With Me)."The focus here is providing that connection, and in this case, a kind of physical body," Neustaedter explained.

"Long-distance relationships are more common today, but distance don't have to mean missing out on having a physical presence and sharing space," says Neustaedter. "If people can't physically be together, we're hoping to create the next best technological solutions."