[From ExtremeTech] An elastic touchscreen into which you can literally sink your fingers By James Plafke on April 19, 2013 When touchscreens first became widespread on our mobile devices, the main complaint from touchscreen detractors was that it felt weird to poke at a flat surface rather than tactile buttons. Eventually, most of the mobile phone audience grew to either love or live with the flat touchscreen. Now, with an elastic touchscreen you can pull and poke, a project out of MIT’s Media Lab aims to put tactile sensation back into using your devices.…

[From NBC News, where the story includes additional images] [Image: ARMAR IIIa, designed by the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), unloads a dishwasher in a recent demonstration in Germany] Dawn of the bot? New era nears, experts say Nidhi Subbaraman NBC News May 13, 2013 Science fiction is quickly taking a back seat to science fact. Just look at a new report by the country’s leading roboticists. By 2030, it says, robots will be everywhere. At the gym, they’ll help you train. In operating rooms, flea-sized robots will zip through your blood vessels to repair tissues. Using voice commands and…

[From VentureBeat, where the story includes additional images] How Google is melding our real and virtual worlds with games, apps … and Glass May 1, 2013 John Koetsier “The world around you is not what it seems,” says Ingress, the virtual game that uses the real world as its gamespace. And, perhaps, when Google’s semi-independent division Niantic Labs is finished with its mission, we humans won’t be, either. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and usable. Note carefully that Google says nothing about the Internet in that statement. In the last few eye-blinks…

[From Singularity Hub; for more information, see “Bringing back the brainwaves: NeuroGaming 2013 Conference in retrospect” at Neurogadget.com] The Future of Gaming – It May All Be in Your Head Written By: Aaron Frank Posted: 05/12/13 Gaming as a hobby evokes images of lethargic teenagers huddled over their controllers, submerged in their couch surrounded by candy bar wrappers. This image should soon hit the reset button since a more exciting version of gaming is coming. It’s called neurogaming, and it’s riding on the heels of some exponential technologies that are converging on each other. Many of these were on display…

[From CNET] [Image: The arrays use some 8,000 touch-sensitive transistors. Credit: Georgia Institute of Technology] New ‘smart skin’ so sensitive it rivals the real thing Researchers say their experimental arrays sense pressure in the same range as the human fingertip, which could result in better bots and prosthetics. By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore April 26, 2013 Using what they are calling “mechanical agitation,” researchers out of the Georgia Institute of Technology say they’ve developed arrays that can sense touch with the same level of sensitivity as the human fingertip, which could result in better bots and prosthetics.…

[From Penn State] [Image: Game avatar with a backpack. Credit: S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State] Bonding with your virtual self may alter your actual perceptions By Matthew Swayne May 2, 2013 PARIS — When people create and modify their virtual reality avatars, the hardships faced by their alter egos can influence how they perceive virtual environments, according to researchers. A group of students who saw that a backpack was attached to an avatar that they had created overestimated the heights of virtual hills, just as people in real life tend to overestimate heights and distances while carrying extra weight, according…

[From Mashable] Oculus Rift Used to Simulate Decapitation by Guillotine By Stan Schroeder May 7, 2013 We’ve seen the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift take a 90-year old grandmother on a charming tour through Tuscany, but the device can also be used for other, much less pleasant experiences. In one very blatant example, users are going through the experience of being decapitated by a guillotine, a device used for executions, most famously in the 18th century during the French Revolution. This Oculus Rift experience, created during the Exile Game Jam by Erkki Trummal, André Berlemont and Morten Brunbjerg, is dubbed…

[From The Philadelphia Inquirer, where the story includes additional images] [Image: Rolling Game Station, a 32-foot trailer loaded with video games, went to Zachary Jordan’s house in Douglassville for his eighth-birthday party. It is one of at least five games on wheels operations in the area. (MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Staff Photographer)] Parties favoring video games By Kristin E. Holmes, Inquirer Staff Writer May 05, 2013 It was Zachary Jordan’s eighth-birthday party, but cake and ice cream couldn’t compete. There was something much more delectable outside: Super Mario Bros. in the dark. Parked in front of Zachary’s Douglassville home was…

[From OnlineAthens, where the story includes additional images] [Image: B.J. Whimpey, left, rides a virtual reality bicycle while Ray Smith, one of the two designers, looks on at the Driftmier Engineering Center in Athens, Ga., Thursday, May 2, 2013. (AJ Reynolds/Staff) AJ Reynolds/OnlineAthens & The Athens Banner-Herald] Shooting, biking and space mining at UGA virtual reality showcase By Lee Shearer – Friday, May 3, 2013 The places were virtual, but the fun was real Thursday in a virtual-reality open house on the University of Georgia campus. Visitors could operate a robotic flyer, fire a Glock 9mm pistol complete with recoil,…

[From South Carolina’s The State] [Image: Other students such as Lexie Kinder’s good friend Hazel Kolb, front left, work on their shapes while Alice Drive Elementary third-grade teacher Ivey Smith, back left, talks to Lexie Kinder, a girl who has not been able to attend school in nearly two years, via the VGo robot, a robotic stand-in. Sumter School District is the first school district in the state to pilot VGo, a machine that allows a student to attend school and interact with others through a camera and audio. Jade Anderson — AP/The (Sumter) Item] Sumter girl attends school thanks…

[From Temple University] [Image: Temple researchers are creating a virtual therapist for people with aphasia. Conducting the two-year study are, from left, Justin Shi, associate professor of computer science; Nadine Martin, professor of communication sciences; and Emily Keshner, professor and chair of physical therapy.] Aphasia patients may soon get help using a virtual speech therapist Posted May 1, 2013 — Eryn Jelesiewicz When asked about her stroke, Debi L. Green pulls a worn scrap of paper out of her purse and points to “October 15, 2004.” The paper is a collection of dates, diagnoses and vital facts that helps her…

[From Science Network Western Australia; more information and images are available at the University of Western Australia in Second Life blog] [Image: Left to right: Avatars of Professor Stuart Bunt (UWA), Dr April Richardson-Hatcher (UK), D.Newton (UWA) and Matt Hazzard (UK) meet to launch the collaboration] Virtual reality examined for tertiary science learning A virtual reality teaching program by UWA and collaborators has received an international award for innovative learning using Second Life. Saturday, 20 April 2013 06:00 Now with funding from UWA’s Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, Professor Stuart Bunt from School of Anatomy, Physiology and…