PEOPLE who are both fond of animals and allergic to them can shout “Hallelujah!”. Adrian David Cheok and colleagues at the National University of Singapore have developed the Touchy Internet system. It connects users to a real chicken via a chicken-shaped doll, an array of sensors and a webcam link. The idea is that you stroke the doll, and then the real chicken, which wears a lightweight jacket containing tiny vibration motors, feels the touch in the same place.
With commendable modesty, Cheok says he understands “the perceived eccentricity of developing a system for humans to…
