[To really understand the advance in presence-evoking technology described in this short story from Stanford Engineering, watch and listen to the 0:29 second video demonstration in the original story (ideally while wearing headphones) and the two longer videos on the project‘s web page. –Matthew] A new algorithm enables more realistic sound effects in VR If a character in a virtual environment drops a plate, software can generate that sound at just the right time. July 30, 2019 By Tom Abate When we watch movies or play video games, the right sound effects can help make scenes more realistic: When a…

[The new device described in this story from the University of Houston is another step toward effective presence illusions in teleoperation and other human-machine interactions. See the original version for a different picture and a 1:11 minute video. For more information see the paper in Science Advances. –Matthew] [Image: Source: IEEE Spectrum] A Wearable Device So Thin and Soft You Won’t Even Notice It Device Also Can Serve as Robotic Skin, Relaying Information Back to the User By Jeannie Kever August 2, 2019 Wearable human-machine interfaces – devices that can collect and store important health information about the wearer, among…

[Our colleagues Skip Rizzo and Jim Blascovich are quoted in this interesting story from Pacific Standard about the potential of VR to simulate the experiences generated by psychedelic drugs; in the process there are some insights about how it’s possible to “be there” but know that you’re not there during a presence experience. For more information and a video about the Ayahuasca (Kosmik Journey) VR experience, see the a-BAHN website and for a first-person report on the experience see The Cut. –Matthew] [Image: A man tries out a virtual reality game inside a Fulldome.pro 360-degree projection dome on opening day…

[This opinion column from The Next Web highlights some of the many ethical, factual and financial problems with a new presence service offered by a pornography company. Despite these issues, it’s interesting to note the evolution of technologies used to record our sexual and other activities for re-experiencing later move beyond still photography and audio to film and video to virtual reality. For more information including images and videos find the company’s website. –Matthew] [Image: Source: VR Bangers] Porn company wants $10K to shoot you screwing in VR before you’re too old to be attractive By Tristan Greene July 25,…

[TechCrunch reports on a different type of out-of-home VR-based presence experience in New York; see the original version for three different pictures, and for more details and another first-person report on the experience see coverage in Bloomberg. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Bloomberg] The Museum of Future Experiences offers a spooky, surreal take on VR It’s definitely not a normal VR arcade July 30, 2019 Anthony Ha Here’s what I knew when I visited the Museum of Future Experiences: The startup is part of the current batch of companies at Y Combinator, and it’s doing work with virtual reality.…

[In a parallel to the movement from Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) to Media As Social Actor (MASA) presence, this story from The Conversation describes a new “Multimodal Turing Test” that evaluates not only whether a computer seems to have the intelligence of a human but whether a humanoid robot is “indistinguishable from a real human.” See the original version for three more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: Hanson Robotics’ android “Sophia.” Credit: Anton Gvozdikov/Shutterstock] Our Turing Test for androids will judge how lifelike humanoid robots can be July 30, 2019 Carl Strathearn, PhD Candidate, Staffordshire University Alan Turing was recently announced…

[This story from The Philadelphia Inquirer describes another potentially valuable application of presence; see the original story for a 4:24 minute video. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Teven M. Falk / Staff Photographer] People with autism face special risks dealing with police. This virtual reality program could help. by Rita Giordano July 30, 2019 Skylar Armstrong, a 17-year-old high schooler from North Philadelphia, has been fielding a lot of attention from police lately. Officers on the beat have been peppering him with all sorts of questions: “What are you doing here?” “Can you tell me your street address?” “Can you show me…

[I want to go to The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida – this story from Creative Loafing Tampa Bay describes how the museum has incorporated VR, AI and now AR to enhance the presence experiences of visitors. More information about the current AR exhibit is available from the museum’s website and for more examples of the use of VR and AR in museums see Blooloop. –Matthew] [Image: Salvador Dalí. Nature Morte Vivante (Still Life-Fast Moving), 1969-70, oil on canvas. Collection of the Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, FL (USA). Credit: Worldwide: ©Salvador Dalí, Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dalí (artists rights society), 2019.…

[In this story from The Conversation Newcastle University scholars compare two types of presence experiences for the care of dementia; see the original version for a second image and a video. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Mark Combs] ‘Time travel’ as dementia care is spreading, but the future may be more powerful than the past July 29, 2019 Kellie Morrissey, Research Fellow, School of Computing, Newcastle University James Hodge, PhD Candidate, Newcastle University The village of Hogeweyk in The Netherlands has been compared with the Truman Show. It is home to 152 people with dementia and is run by carers who maintain…

[This short IEEE Spectrum story describes a new telepresence robot with a “near lifesize” display; see the original story for another image and a 0:56 minute video. For more information, images and videos about several more robots being introduced by Toyota for the Olympics see the company’s press release, and for a 6:16 audio report see coverage by Voice of America. –Matthew] Toyota Research Developing New Telepresence Robot for 2020 Olympics Toyota’s T-TR1 offers a way for people to attend the Olympics without leaving home By Evan Ackerman 23 Jul 2019 With the Olympics taking place next year in Japan,…

[This South China Morning Post story reports on another social VR gaming attraction, including some of the design choices used to increase presence. See the original story for two different images, a 2:10 minute video, and a podcast episode. For more information see the Sandbox VR website and for detailed first-person reports on the player experience, see stories in Business Insider and The Next Web. –Matthew] [Image: Source: The Next Web] Here’s how Hong Kong start-up Sandbox VR built hyperrealistic virtual reality games A social media post of the VR game went viral and was shared over 10,000 times and…

[The interview with Suzanne Gildert below from PC Magazine is about human-like robots and medium-as-social-actor presence responses to them, embodiment, AI and machine learning, teleoperation and its after-effects, human-robot and robot-human cyborgs, the power of (science) fiction portrayals, and more. See the original version for 4 more pictures, and for more information, images and videos see Dr. Gildert’s website and her Singularity University faculty page. –Matthew] [Image: Dr. Gildert and Nadine play Connect Four. Source/credit: Daniel Marquardt and Sanctuary AI 2019)] These Human-Like ‘Synths’ Will Make You Do a Double Take Dr. Suzanne Gildert, Founder and CEO of Vancouver-based Sanctuary,…