High-tech hens in web massage

Scientists in Singapore looking for ways to transmit the sense of touch over the internet have devised a vibrating jacket for chickens and are considering a human version for transmitting cyberspace hugs.

The wireless jacket is controlled by a computer and gives the animal the feeling of being stroked by its owner, a researcher at Nanyang Technological University told the Herald.

The technology was developed by the University's Mixed Reality Lab, which was set up to explore commercial blue sky developments involving "new interfaces to make machines more natural".

Among those projects is Poultry. Internet: a "man-poultry interactive system" incorporating internet technology, three-dimensional live-capture computer vision, sensors and cybernetics.

Mixed Reality research engineer Lee Shang Ping said chickens were chosen because of their poor treatment as domestic animals in some Asian countries.

"They really do not deserve such bad treatment so we think picking chickens is a very good idea," he said.

Using technology developed by Poultry. Internet, humans can interact with their poultry pals to reassure them remotely and in real time.

The chickens are kept under the watch of web cameras and when it comes to dressing for dinner, they wear the latest in barnyard fashion - an electronic jacket.

This can be triggered to vibrate, creating a sense of being touched and massaged.

Sensors in the jacket also record the chicken's leg movements.

Back in the office, the chicken-owner has a lightweight portable mechanical system on top of which sits a chicken doll capable of limited movement.

Sensors inside the doll's hollow body record human touch and transmit the corresponding feeling via the internet to the live chicken.

Ping said a simple test showed the chickens enjoyed their cyber massage. When presented with two different-coloured doors, the chickens preferred the one leading to the jacket.

NZ Poultry Industry Association executive director Michael Brooks said fitting jackets to 3 million layer hens and 15 million broiler chickens would be impractical - but he did not rule out the possibility for pampered backyard hens.

Development of the touchy-feely technology includes jackets for cats and dogs, and transmitting human hugs over the internet.

"These days, parents go on a lot of business trips, but with children, hugging and touching are very important," University Associate Professor Adrian David Cheok told the Strait Times.

The university is considering a pyjama suit for children that would use the internet to adjust changes in pressure and temperature to simulate the feeling of being hugged.

Parents wearing a similar suit could be hugged back by their children, the paper said.

Other projects being developed at Mixed Reality Lab include Human Pacman, in which people use mobile wide-area networks to role-play as the arcade character Pacman and his enemy ghosts.

- additional reporting REUTERS