ATSUGI, Japan — We wield remote controls to turn things on and off, make them advance, make them halt. Ground-bound pilots use remotes to fly drone airplanes, soldiers to maneuver battlefield robots.
But manipulating humans?
Just imagine being rendered the rough equivalent of a radio-controlled toy car.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., ( search ) Japans top telephone company, says it is developing the technology to perhaps make video games more realistic. But more sinister applications also come to mind.
" I can envision it being added to militaries' arsenals of so-called "non-lethal" weapons."
"A special headset was placed on my cranium by my hosts during a recent demonstration at an NTT research center."
"It sent a very low voltage electric current from the back of my ears through my head — either from left to right or right to left, depending on which way the joystick on a remote-control was moved."
"I found the experience unnerving and exhausting: I sought to step straight ahead but kept careening from side to side. Those alternating currents literally threw me off."
The technology is called galvanic vestibular stimulation ( search ) — essentially, electricity messes with the delicate nerves inside the ear that help maintain balance.
" I felt a mysterious, irresistible urge to start walking to the right whenever the researcher
turned the switch to the right. I was convinced — mistakenly — that this was the only way to maintain my balance."
" The phenomenon is painless but dramatic. Your feet start to move before you know it. I could even remote-control myself by taking the switch into my own hands.
"
There's no proven-beyond-a-doubt explanation yet as to why people start veering when electricity hits their ear. But NTT researchers say they were able to make a person walk along a route in the shape of a giant pretzel using this technique.
SOURCE - http://www.livescience.com/technology/ap_051025_remote_control.html
This video will prove it !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf0E9llkZIU
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