Mind-reading tail lets you wag when you’re happy, just like a dog
Meet Shippo, the furry clip-on tail that wags when you’re happy or excited and droops in a neutral position when you’re calm and meditative.
Shippo was created by Neurowear, a company that uses the same technology doctors use to detect seizures and measure brain activity to make products that are more fun and frivilous and play with different ways of expressing our emotions and moods.
The company’s first product was Necomimi, a pair of plush cat ears that read the wearer’s mind using electroencephalography (EEG) and then perk up and fold depending on his or her mood. A censor on the wearer’s forehead picks up on the electrical activity at the scalp, and tells the ears what to do.
Shippo, the furry tail, was announced at the Tokyo Game Show last week.
Like Necomimi, the wearer needs to have a sensor on her forehead that measures the electricity at the scalp. There is also a sensor that clips on the wearer’s ear that measures her pulse. The sensors communicate to the tail via Bluetooth. A motor in the tail lets it wag back and forth.
Shippo is still in the concept phase, but the Verge reports that the company said it may be on the market as early as the end of this year.
Neurowear released a surreal concept video on YouTube on Thursday that shows a young woman strolling through her neighborhood--tail wagging as she smells flowers, relaxes on a park bench and meets a young man who is also wearing a tail.
As of Monday it had been veiwed close to 500,000 times.
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