Tactile communication device allows users to French kiss over the Internet

[Video Link] Soon you will be able to tongue wrestle with an avatar of Lara Croft being controlled by the Genioglossus muscle of 55-year-old electric engineer named Spencer.

Robotic "Tongue" Lets You French Kiss Over The Internet

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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jimh

Ceci n’est pas un baiser.
Anonymous

O-M-F-G
bcsizemo

Yawn, boring….

Every since time I see something like this it is always prefaced with “If we can figure out how to do EVERYTHING else then it’ll be like we are really simulating it…”

This technology has existed since at least the early 90′s, what makes this so special besides someone is playing tongue hockey with a plastic straw…
angusm

“If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a human being screaming ‘No tongue! No tongue!’ at a Facebook web-server … forever.”
Verre

All this time I thought I knew how to french kiss, but it turns out that it actually involves holding the tongue in a rigid position and making mechanical rotations clockwise or counterclockwise. I can’t wait to try out my new technique!
mauzzz

A logical addon for Chatroulette.
Cowicide

It’s all fun and games until the person on the other side shows you on webcam where they really stuck it.
folkclarinet

Of course, this could be used for other purposes with a slightly differently-shaped interoral device. I’m not thinking sexual here, but vocal pedagogy!

My friend the voice teacher wishes she could show her students exactly which piece of soft tissue moves where in the mouth in order to create different vocal timbres. There was a fairly recent video of MRIs performed on a beatboxer and an opera singer and it was actually very informative about what parts of the mouth move where to make different sounds! Something tactile could only aid in the student’s development of muscle memory inside the mouth!
msbpodcast

OMG Tongue wrestling with Lara Croft.

This is what the reviewer came up with?

There are far more interesting things to be done with the device (One word: teledildonics)
scallywag

Kids- I donâ€™t know about you, but Iâ€™m going through my bed sheets right now looking for loose $20 bills so I can run out and buy one before I place my lonely head on my pillow tonight.

http://scllywgndvgbnd.cm/2011/05/y-cn-nw-fnlly-by–frnch-kssng-gdgt/
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Scallywag,
  
  Please read our policy on links on the Comment Policy page.
- mccrum
  
  What kind of lonely father keeps loose twenty dollar bills in their bed sheets?
robcat2075

When I was at (the now defunct) Canadian telecom manufacturer Nortel Networks they demonstrated a device that would allow people to shake hands over the internet.

I thought “hmmm… how long before that gets re-purposed for something besides holding hands?”
Anonymous

Jickets! WTF that’s hilarious! I for one welcome Tactile communication device French kissing overlords. I think. Gosh. What will they think of next. Maybe MAKE Magazine ought to do a special MAKE OUT issue dedicated to DIY’ing this device.
RedShirt77

I would bet my bottum dollar that will not be used for french kissing much.
mccrum

It’s wonderful to see how technology can be used to make what had been anatomically impossible, possible!

“Hey buddy, go f$%* yourself!”
Now, with this, I can!
dalesd

“Can you fuck it?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O_rXZ381vo
irksome

Science, golly.
imhotep

Wow! That is EXACTLY like kissing!
yrogerg

Meh, wake me when they invent a way to stab people through the Internet, then I’ll pay attention.
Anonymous

Can it simulate halitosis?
Anonymous

We all know where this is headed…

cyber-mononucleosis
Lobster

Yes.

…

“Kiss.”
noen

That’s not your tongue.
Locobot

Well, the guy does crack up several times in the clip. I think he’s pretty well aware of all the faults with this and that he’s kind of amazed that he’s getting funding/college credit/whatever/attention for this. It’s obviously not remotely close to the cutting edge but this is ultimately what people will pay for. A BJ machine that could pass the Turing test would be a billion dollar invention. I find stuff like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFVlzUAZkHY much creepier to watch.
juepucta

And the teledildonics race is back on!
Jake0748

Ewwwww.
RebNachum

Now I know what “squick” means.
- Ceronomus
  
  Yeah, I think this is the perfect definition of Squick. Really? Robotic French kissing? Sounds like this research is being bankrolled by the Real Doll people.
Anonymous

“the Genioglossus muscle of 55-year-old electric engineer named Spencer”

Oh. God. Too funny. :)
RitchG

I can’t help but feel skynet has reached a crucial step.
osmo

Someone should tell Nabuhiro not to talk with his mouth full of tongue… is that guy single btw?
- Jake0748
  
  “is that guy single btw?”
  
  I’m guessing yes.
  - anansi133
    
    You can pretty much read it as a given, that anyone who’d want to build such a thing lacks the real life skills to make it work. It’s a self-limiting problem.
    
    Although, you’d think over time, such traits would have bred themselves out of the race.
  - osmo
    
    he seems to know allot about kissing though… I mean if that is the current method of french kissing with japanese kids these days – you both stick one end of the same drinking straw into your mouth and twirl it around…
    
    Am I the only one seeing a future of … oooh I dunno “thicker straws” being used on one end and on the other you don’t put the thing in your mouth but rather in the IRL “thicker straw”?
    - Michael Smith
      
      Am I the only one seeing a future of … oooh I dunno “thicker straws” being used on one end and on the other you don’t put the thing in your mouth but rather in the IRL “thicker straw”?
      
      I am pretty sure there is a commercial system for sex by teleoperation. A quick google failed me but I read about it six months ago or so.
jacob_ewing

That does rather beg for a reference to the good ol’ fufme system.
- jacob_ewing
  
  Sorry, I should note that’s moderately NSFW
Kosmoid

Mark, what is your Skype ID?