Being in the picture

Here's a jacket to lett you feel a movie. To wit:

The jacket contains 64 independently controlled actuators distributed across the arms and torso. The actuators are arrayed in 16 groups of four and linked along a serial bus; each group shares a microprocessor. The actuators draw so little current that the jacket could operate for an hour on its two AA batteries even if the system was continuously driving 20 of the motors simultaneously.

So what can the jacket make you feel? Can it cause a viewer to feel a blow to the ribs as he watches Bruce Lee take on a dozen thugs? No, says Lemmens. Although the garment can simulate outside forces, translating kicks and punches is not what the actuators are meant to do. The aim, he says, is investigating emotional immersion.

I love this! Movies have terrific visual effects, even 3-D. The sounds is awesome, too. Now, to be able to feel, to have your sense of touch, as part of the experience, that's just terrific. I hope these can be mass produced and that movie makers and theaters will cater to it.