Being in a long-distance relationship usually sucks. Texting can be nerve-wracking and is often guided by miscommunication. FaceTime feels like a constant teaser of what you are probably missing out on at the moment and linking each other on memes and laughing alone is just lame.
It appears that nothing can beat the good old physical meeting, but as this is the one thing long-distance couples cannot do, maybe technology could solve this issue.
According to estimates there are worldwide 14 million couples, which would amount to 28 million people, assuming the classical 1 on 1 relationship. This already sounds like a decent market but an application which would make seeing your loved ones more realistic is also interesting for families, friends or business people who just want to add that special touch to their meeting. Jokes aside there are a lot of people who go through the troubles of feeling distant to someone they miss and are willing to pay money to numb the pain. Not to forget all the gamers who are looking for the most realistic experience possible or the military service who wants to prepare their recruits the best way possible.
Introducing the Teslasuit (sorry, nothing to do with Elon), which is basically a skintight suit equipped with nodes which can send electric impulses to your body which should feel like a real-life interaction with the world. So throw on your VR goggles and get ready for the immersive experience.
Source: https://uncrate.com/teslasuit/
Now that you look like you are going snorkeling at the great barrier reef and have paid between 1000€ and 2500€ (depending on your model) you might wonder if the experience is truly that good.
Gamers appear to have found a consensus: great stuff! Games will become more and more suited to the Teslasuit as it produces tremendous amounts of data in various situations of the game, data developers can then use this data to make the experience even more immersive.
There are more use cases for the suit for example military training or performance enhancement for athletes, still the initial question remains unanswered: can the physical component in a relationship be substituted by technology like this?
The following video shows that you might be able to transmit touch but it is probably not the experience you and your better half have been waiting for. So for now you probably want to stick to the more traditional methods.
Watch from minute 3:46 if you only want to see the hug:
While it seems like we are not there yet this technology has definitely the potential to change the way how we interact with our loved ones in the future.
Still the thought might be a bit creepy, right? Would you make use of the technology if it was more immersive? Do you see an absolute different use case?
Sources:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/14-million-couples-are-in-long-distance-relationships-heres-the-staggering-amount-it-costs-some-2017-10-13-988482#targetText=Especially%20when%20you’re%20in,each%20other%20once%20a%20month.
https://www.mic.com/articles/128253/the-tesla-suit-simulates-touch-and-lets-you-feel-hugs-from-miles-away
https://www.pcwelt.de/news/Teslasuit-Haptik-Anzug-fuer-VR-angekuendigt-10646388.html
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/teslasuit-experience-ces-2019/
Thanks for this interesting post! I think this suit is not just a piece of equipment for you to get real-interaction, but also an inspiration for the realization of the truly immersive experience in the future. This advancement can be used for games and movies to get much more realistic experience. It reminds me of one episode from “Black Mirror” named “striking vipers”, which is the story of two friends having unique virtual experiences in a fighting game. Maybe in the future, the equipment giving us the interactive feeling can be developed and combined with VR, the high speed 5G and artificial intelligence to make it confusing for us to distinguish the virtual reality to the reality. And at that time, maybe what we need to think about is how to avoid being addicted to and wanting to live in the virtual reality.
This is great! I am currently in a long distance relationship so I know the pain of not really being with my girlfriend. But weirdly enough this whole concept didn’t make me want to try it out. I think it has to do with it coming uncomfortably close when it is on your body. But in context of gaming, I think it would be extremely awesome. And as the previous comment said, 5G will open up a lot of opportunities for real time high quality VR experiences. I remember watching the movie “ready player one” and thinking that this is the future, because this suit seems similar to the one that they used in the movie. I think the idea of living a a virtual life online is going to be extremely appealing to a lot of people who either do not have the social life or opportunities they seek in the real world. As computing power advances and as the graphics become more and more realistic we need to start thinking about how to start running real businesses, in virtual spaces, powered by real hardware. I think ultra realistic virtual reality is going to change the world, and that a suit like this is going to make it not feel as virtual as many might have hoped.
Interesting post!
There is a start-up in Rotterdam, allowing older people, who for example are not able anymore to go on holidays, do hikes or other active stuff, to replace this with VR. In this way, they can walk through a rainforest, or drive along the beach. Could be interesting to combine with this suit, for a full experience. Maybe not just for older people, but people in weelchairs might be able to take advantage of a suit like this as well.
I am very curious how this technology will develop and change our communication and relations in the future. I have recently watched an episode of the series Black Mirror on Netflix. It shows how VR will possibly take over long distance relationships. With VR glasses and a VR microchip on your head, the movements in the VR world are connected to your body. It is an interesting episode to watch because it shows the positive and negative sides of such a development. You are able to connect physically to people who are far away from you, but the producer also has largely suggested that all of our better, faster, sleeker devices are going to give us new ways to oppress and humiliate each other and eventually to destroy ourselves.
For now, I am not sure if it can replace the pain and desire to one another.. There’s no technological solution to time zones. Living past each other and not being able to communicate/send virtual hugs when it is for both parties convenient is very hard. There is no substitute for being close to the person you love. Until you can turn into a hologram or teleport yourself, you can’t actually be there during the important stuff. Communication is valuable in any relationship, but so is sharing moments side-by-side. Technology fills in the gaps, helps us build stronger bonds, but it has yet to duplicate looking into someone’s eyes without leading us into the Uncanny Valley. I think in order to fully love each other you have to be with your loved ones…
Thank you for sharing! I think this suit would be really nice for people who suffer from loneliness. The only problem will probably be the price. I do not think that economies of scale will get this suit to be under €300,-… What do you think is the right price for such an item to achieve mass-adoptation?
Very insightful! I have always imagine when such technology will exist; and now here we are.
Commenting on 2 main use cases that you identify, replacing ‘touch’ experience and augmenting the experience itself, I think that this technology will suits the latter better. I believe that human touches are unique and however we yearn for it, there will be no technologies that can replace that. Nonetheless, we human always search for richer experience in our daily activities, especially, for gamers (I’m a gamer myself and I’m always excited to try new gaming technologies). We’ve seen a lot of examples in immersive gaming experience, from the simpler Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 360, Microsoft Kinect, and now a more advanced one with VR Googles and this Teslasuit. I think major videogaming companies, especially those offering action or adventure game genre, should look into this suit as it can really improve the gaming experience like never before.