Prop-osal #2: Sensory Modifying Outfit

[dale coba]

Having launched my first video-enhancing prop, I want the next project to be more ambitious.

Playing a fembot at Hypnolust is a structured, guided experience. The ultimate guidance would be to provide audio, visual and tactile information, directly and solely to the subject, without obtrusive equipment. "Programming" should be received only by she who is being programmed; it is an internal, "personal" experience. The controller/hypnotist belongs inside her mind, and invisibly creates sensations on her body.

For now, Google Glass is expensive. It's also too large. If she can't roll around on the bed while wearing it, that's too obtrusive. That tech has only begun to develop, sexually.

A bluetooth earpiece is a fine way to communicate control information (just ask the Cybermen). If the tech and the meditative/hypnotic state are truly compatible, then sound can communicate a frequency, or commands, or sounds like a servo or computing noises (Bionic Woman). I think sounds are a later consideration, because there's such a wide space of possible sounds to employ.

Sensation is beyond, beneath language and more mysterious and personal/private/internal/uniquely meant for her. I propose that there are numerous small ways, some less familiar, which could be combined and orchestrated to entrain her to the pleasure of following, or rather falling into, the narrative sculpted to unfold around her. Take two Kinects to map the room and the performers moving in it. Add in how limbs and major joints connect, and maybe a few accelerometers to detect when she initiates a motion, then the rest of that motion can be anticipated.

Imagine an arm with a long-sleeved, lacy glove. Down the arm, inside, tiny vibration motors, with bluetooth and power. On the glove's surface, lights that stream down the arm. The lights will seem to trigger the vibrations - did the lights make the sensation? Doesn’t matter; no, but doesn’t merit thinking about - so give in to Pavlov, and accept the confusion of causality. The mind will tend to make the association, and the association will be rewarded with stimulation of other vibrations in pleasurable zones. As she follows the script or verbal commands, she plays into the pre-planned motions, and her experience of the motions is the feedback that tells her that she is successfully executing her program. She can be relaxed, not thinking, just doing and being and being done.

The key idea here is taken from magic - using multiple communication methods, misdirecting her as to how and where the sensations arise, cradling the subject as she moves through the scene so that her experience of her sensations is diffused, synesthetic, hard to nail down and not worth trying; just take the ride, stop thinking about exactly what equipment is built or sewn at various locations into her meager apparel.

I would incorporate pretty but non-functional “devices” into the outfit, for misdirection. I would assert that the outfit employs certain specific, amazing technologies (which are almost plausible but do not yet exist or are not available to consumers), and also trigger sensations and sounds or lights when those devices are supposedly being used. I would exaggerate the power of the real methods being used to influence her. I would incorporate popular myths. I would harness what the Placebo Effect purports to be (but actually isn't).

There are biological mechanisms to consider: not biochemical, but there are reflexes; there are the body areas which particularly enjoy a little vibration (at specific frequencies) or other stimulation; aural communication through bone transduction (skull or jaw); a sense of presence can be induced; veering to one side; and the like, et cetera and yadda-yadda.

from this month,
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/inde ... n-the-lab/

When these various sensory streams get out of sync, even by a little bit, that can create various self-illusions, such as out-of-body experiences. Researchers in the lab can generate OOB sensations, or the sensation that we occupy a dummy or a virtual avatar.

The researchers in the current study therefore tried to induce a FoP in the lab by exploiting the same principles. They studied 12 healthy subjects with a robot-slave device. The subjects had a control in front of them that controlled a robot arm behind them. When they moved the control the robot arm behind them would touch their own back. When the control and robot arm were in sync, this produced the illusion that the subjects were massaging their own back.

The experimenters then delayed the robot arm by about 500 milliseconds. This setup disrupted the illusion of control over the robot arm and generated a FoP — the subjects felt one or more presences in the lab with them, or that they were being watched. Some also sensed that they were moving backwards, toward the source of the sensation. Two of the 12 subjects found the sensation disturbing enough that they asked for the experiment to immediately end.

Because a fembot shoot is a positive set and setting, what prompted those two to be disturbed will instead be harnessed and enjoyed because of the power and mystery of the unfamiliar sensations. I have not worked out the language, but it should reflect that I’m manipulating sensations and creating synesthesias.

The Wiimote and TENS healing devices are available for parts, or purchasing components may be simple and inexpensive. I imagine that some adequate amount of sensation could be created underneath the lights by a string of small generators of electric or magnetic fields (especially near the frequency of purring).

I haven’t investigated brain wave frequencies. Rhythms of very, very small shocks probably have their place. I could imagine the subject using a basic, over-the-counter headset and her brain frequencies to give her “control” over some indicator, some nominal and easy goal - but how her task actually works out entirely depends on the goal of the choreography. Like a rigged poker machine, a set of rules seems to be in play, but her expectations of control are false.

With a simple video edit, she can spin around three times then regain her balance - and then the video is back, so we never saw the spinning, but the disorientation enables her misdirection. That would be a sort of reboot for her.

Perhaps two pieces of clothing brought adjacent, a stocking to a high-heeled shoe, and one induces a field or magnetically repels the other. Something about feet and grounding, women can be distracted by their feet.

--------

I have these vague outlines so far, but Fembot Prop #2 has an objective. I told an old friend about Prop #1 (though not about fembots yet), and he was very enthusiastic to collaborate. He's also a genius in several ways, technology being one of them.

Of course, the advice and collaboration of Fembot Central members matters the most.

- Dale Coba

[darkbutflashy]

I thought about the things you mention some time ago. Many of it is available as a product and only needs some tweaks, e.g. think about external phone ringers. With a smartphone, you can control these ringers *independendly*. Often they have appealing visual effects, too. And they are cheap.

About brain waves: forget it, the only thing you can measure is "eyes open" vs "eyes closed" (and sleep modes, of course). Buy a necomimi headpiece and try it.

[dale coba]

http://www.eagleman.com/research/sensory-substitution

Can sensory data be fed through unusual sensory channels? And can the brain learn to extract the meaning of such information streams?

Yes and yes. Sensory substitution is a non-invasive technique for circumventing the loss of one sense by feeding its information through another channel. We are leveraging this technique to develop a non-invasive, low-cost vibratory vest to allow those with deafness or severe hearing impairments to perceive auditory information through small vibrations on their torso.

There's nothing that difficult to execute, technologically, with an approach such as this.

Their system communicates through the torso. It doesn't also associate the patterned, tactile sensations with flashing lights, or pleasurable stimulation.

BRAIN FLASH!
The Kinects set up the computer model of the room, and the signals in the suit are like in this article below, except instead of detecting and indicating North, they detect and confirm her motions as written in the script and her program.

Sensory augmentation for the blind.

Abstract

Common navigational aids used by blind travelers during large-scale navigation divert attention away from important cues of the immediate environment (i.e., approaching vehicles). Sensory augmentation devices, relying on principles similar to those at work in sensory substitution, can potentially bypass the bottleneck of attention through sub-cognitive implementation of a set of rules coupling motor actions with sensory stimulation. We provide a late blind subject with a vibrotactile belt that continually signals the direction of magnetic north. The subject completed a set of behavioral tests before and after an extended training period. The tests were complemented by questionnaires and interviews. This newly supplied information improved performance on different time scales. In a pointing task we demonstrate an instant improvement of performance based on the signal provided by the device. Furthermore, the signal was helpful in relevant daily tasks, often complicated for the blind, such as keeping a direction over longer distances or taking shortcuts in familiar environments. A homing task with an additional attentional load demonstrated a significant improvement after training. The subject found the directional information highly expedient for the adjustment of his inner maps of familiar environments and describes an increase in his feeling of security when exploring unfamiliar environments with the belt. The results give evidence for a firm integration of the newly supplied signals into the behavior of this late blind subject with better navigational performance and more courageous behavior in unfamiliar environments. Most importantly, the complementary information provided by the belt lead to a positive emotional impact with enhanced feeling of security. The present experimental approach demonstrates the positive potential of sensory augmentation devices for the help of handicapped people.

(my bold)

This will be an even more pleasurable entrainment. There can be objectives, commands big and small for a robot to perform, and for which to be rewarded. She can reach out into the room and find the sensations arranged for her there. It's not like I think I could make a wearable, walk-around orgasmatron. The pleasurable feedback is a matter of foreplay and scale, encouragement and validation. This is a game she can enjoy easily winning, and everyone will celebrate.

What is her reward for walking stiffly; for kissing her partner; or "converting" her partner into a bot?

Now, build this very simple principle into the scenario.

Mindflex--featuring a headset that reads your brain waves and a levitating foam ball--is the kind of game that must be seen to be believed. Recommended for players aged eight and older, the game begins when you strap on the headset so you can use your powers of concentration to move the ball around the game console and through a mind-bending obstacle course. A dial-in console lets you to keep the ball lifted on a cushion of air, but raising and lowering the ball must be accomplished by alternating concentrating and relaxing your mind.

Headset Measures your Brain Waves
Tired of games that depend on the roll of a die or lucky draw? With the help of advanced technology, Mindflex introduces a whole new way to play--by using the power of your mind!

You'll feel like a character in a science fiction movie as you strap on the headset, connect the clips to your ear lobes, and align the metal forehead sensor just above your left eyebrow. But even this strange accessory won't prepare you for

... whatever we program to be triggered by her force of will.

She has a way of signalling, the ability to turn on an LED collar, or make a confirmatory PING noise through speakers. Do you want Captain Christopher Pike's wheelchair of Tomorrow, with one beep for Yes, two for No?

She would communicate her participation and continued will to please through her mind. If we measure brainwaves to confirm what her brain is experiencing, we can validate and therefore encourage and therefore consensually create specific frequencies.

I know it sounds New Agey and Hippie-dippie, but really this brainwave stuff, measuring and feedback to entrain to chosen mental states, it's neither complicated science, nor dubious. It's getting late, so I just grabbed some semi-random words below about what mental "gears" we could have our subject switch between, as the arc of the encounter unfolded.

Brainwaves - and what they represent (part 2)
States of consciousness: a symphony of different brainwaves

The different states of consciousness can be described as combinations of beta, alpha, theta and delta brainwaves. (There is still research being done on gamma brainwaves and their significance). Most of the time we see not only one category of brainwaves but rather a combination of brainwaves interacting in concert.

Wachzustand "Normal" waking state (Gurdjieff called it "waking sleep"): beta brainwaves alone or in combination with delta (hour glass pattern).
[...]
Meditation Meditation: alpha and theta in combination, delta may also be present.
Both alpha and theta are necessary here: without alpha we would not be conscious during the meditation or remember its content, if theta is lacking we experience a lively and colorful imagination but without the depth, profundity or insight of theta.

Awakened Mind Awakened mind: You will produce an awakened mind pattern first described by Maxwell Cade if you add low frequency beta to the meditation pattern.
You will then be able to tap into the intuition of delta, the creative inspiration, personal insight or spiritual consciousness of theta, the relaxed, detached imagery of alpha and the conscious processing of thoughts in beta, and all of this simultaneously!!

Anna Wise and Maxwell Cade discovered that while producing an awakened mind information (the "content" of consciousness) can flow freely between all levels of consciousness if all categories of brainwaves are present and in correct interrelation to each other. Consciousness is then sharper, faster, more flexible and unique. The awakened mind is the key to creativity and connects the various levels of our personality. When the different brainwaves of the awakened mind occur not simultaneously but in close succession, the pattern is called a sequential awakened mind. Sudden deep insights and aha-experiences are usually correlated with a brief flash of an awakened mind pattern. Please note that in an awakened mind pattern there is very little high frequency beta that is associated with inner unrest, repetitive thinking, stress and analytical thinking.

These shifts would be gradual, but we could abruptly signal a "change in tone" for her. Say she's focused on her tasks and robotic motions, then her partner arrives naked, and the subject sees the signal lights, feels the vibrations down her arms, so she knows that now she should switch to a dreamy, command-able state and getting a vibration reward - or GIVING ONE! - as a result of successfully embracing that mental state while diving in to make love.

I feel like this was very creative and successful, but it's too 1:32:30 AM here for me to be sure, so I'll have to read this over tomorrow. Any thoughts?

- Dale Coba

[dale coba]

This Wristband is Your Personal Air Conditioner

The science wizards over at MIT have concocted a wristband that they are naming Wristify. This band is essentially your very own personal air conditioning unit that you wear on your wrist, much like a smartwatch. Only instead of showing you recent tweets by bozo celebrities, it conditions the air around you. How in tarnations does something like this work? It essentially tricks the human body into feeling cold, using well placed “jolts” of cold. The body has a way of thinking it is cold just after one blast, so a timed pulse can essentially keep you feeling A-OK all day. It’s certainly interesting tech.

The wristband recently MADMEC contest, netting the creators a cool(get it?) $10,000 to continue their research. Speaking of research, don’t go wandering into Bed Bath & Beyond looking for Wristify just yet. This is just a working prototype and there is still much study to be done until we all start wearing these around our wrists.

Shames said Wristify will start a crowdfunding campaign next year and will offer the devices for about $199.

But that's just the start.

"We definitely have a big vision for the company," he said. "As soon as you have a bracelet on your wrist that can change temperature, it opens up possibilities."

Shames said one potential future application would be thermal notifications – a potential replacement for a text message's buzz during a meeting.

"The other thing you could imagine is sending warmth to a loved one across the country," he said. "I can send my mom a pulse. You can imagine more immersive media experiences."

You know, I think I just might be able to imagine such a thing.

- Dale Coba

[dale coba]

A cold chill [...] "a pleasant tingling feeling, associated with the flexing of hair follicles resulting in goose bumps (technically called piloerection), accompanied by a cold sensation, and sometimes producing a shudder or shiver." Dimpled skin is often visible due to cold chills especially on the back of the neck or upper spine. Unlike shivering, however, it is not caused by temperature, menopause, or anxiety but rather is an emotionally triggered response[1] when one is deeply affected by things such as music,[2][3] speech, or recollection. It is similar to autonomous sensory meridian response; both sensations consist of a pleasant tingling feeling that affects the skin on the back of the neck and spine.

To be placed on each sensory meridian or chakra or wherever it counts, a vibration motor + Wristify + lights + a big button she can press.

Frisson is a sensation caused by audiovisual stimuli, related to ASMR and cold chill. However, it's a distinct phenomenon and typically expressed as an overwhelming emotional response combined with piloerection while listening to specific passages in music. The response is specific to the individual; a stimulus that creates a response in one individual may not create a response in another.

Frisson is of short duration, usually no more than 4-5 seconds, usually pleasurable[1] and has been shown to correlate strongly to loud passages of music and passages that violate some level of musical expectation.[2]

It has been shown that during frisson, listeners enter a listening mode called "ecstatic listening" upon which skin of the lower back flexes, and shivers rise upward and inward from the shoulders, up the neck, and may extend to the cheeks and scalp. The face may become flush, hair follicles experience piloerection. This frequently occurs in a series of 'waves' moving up the back in rapid succession.

The frissoner usually feels the experience as involuntary. [...]

Frisson may be enhanced by the amplitude of the music and the temperature of the environment. Cool listening rooms and movie theaters may enhance the experience.[4]

I strongly qualify as a frissoner, though I'm less thrilled about our name.

Consider, she could be supplied by ear piece, or music played in the room for a few seconds to trigger frisson, and that could be the moment when her character is being converted or falling under mind control, so her sound trigger is edited out - replaced with a ray gun beam, or servo motors sounds to match her motions.

- Dale Coba

[dale coba]

From the waist up, this outfit, from the 1960s series U.F.O., plays some naughty games with the eye, a flesh-toned bra matching her flesh (nominally clothed in a netting, but nearly as exposed as bare flesh).


(of course, there would be no bra in prop2)

Here, the lighting reveals the outfit's effect more clearly.


The fabric covering her shoulders and upper arms could house components like power and bluetooth; also the Wristify to cool down the spine or warm the nape of the neck.

The netting should be thicker bands to hold the nodes (light, vibratory motor, micro-shocker), with fewer fabric bands so the amount of visible skin remains high.

- Dale Coba

[dale coba]

I have been considering the value of entrainment methods parallel to the one I quoted above, where vibrations would communicate information other than magnetic north as the researchers associated with their vibrations.
but
I'm adding to my list of senses and sub-senses to be manipulated, and I now think a magnetic north compass sense would be helpful. It increases the feeling of being oriented in a space without having to think consciously about it.

- Dale Coba

[dale coba]

Thermal grill illusion

The thermal grill illusion is a sensory illusion originally demonstrated in 1896 [...]
The illusion is created by an interlaced grill of warm (e.g., 40°C/104°F) and cool (20°C/68°F) bars. When someone presses a hand against the grill, he or she experiences the illusion of burning heat. But if the person presses against only a cool bar, only coolness is experienced; if the person presses against only a warm bar, only warmth is experienced. To put it more simply, this illusion occurs when certain "wrong" signals override "right" ones and reach the brain first.

I am no expert in safe, controlled pain for pleasure's sake. It's not my thing to want to feel pain, nor to inflict it.

For some, certainly, pain has a place in their play. Entrainment can be both encouragement and pain, complementary forces. The suit could come with or without this feature. More likely, I'd have a firm, obvious disable feature for the user - a part of some size which, when removed, ensures the wearer that the pain functionality is disabled.

However, this kind of pain doesn't seem very threatening. No red marks, no cuts, no burns, no bruises. Imagine fine control of this sort of pain, a grid of computer-controlled heat/cool devices, possibly using the Wristify technology. Fine control means the experience wouldn't have to be only about levels of strong pain. Trace a low level across the body with a virtual fingertip-sized brush, turning around limb and torso. Cold or heat or fake-burn pain or shock or vibration, many traces smaller than fingers, brushing around the body like a possessed erotic comb.

- Dale Coba

[dale coba]

A new tech may replace most of what I outlined above.
The sensation of texture induced by vibrations.

Texture Perception

We are exquisitely sensitive to surface texture, able to distinguish between very fine materials, such as satin and silk. These abilities rely on three different populations of receptors that innervate the skin and call upon different encoding strategies.

Indeed, coarse spatial features are reflected in spatial patterns of activity in one population of afferents while fine features, which require exploratory movements to be tangible, are encoded in precise temporal patterns of spiking in the other two receptor populations.

Tactile texture processing thus affords us a unique opportunity to investigate how different neural codes operate and how these codes are integrated to culminate in a unified sensory percept.

Imagine the waves of energy rippling, velvet fingers following impossible paths around her skin. Spin the texture of glass slowly around her legs like a barber pole, then faster, then it surges up to her delicate parts - and surges up the legs, surges and surges, changing from one texture to another.

With entrainment,
- the texture of a leather tap on a shoulder to tell her to turn in that direction.
- metal, then cooler and broader, growing to swallow her whole body as she knows to shift into drone behavior.
- post orgasm, melting into warm water.
- punishment, ice and fire in a checkerboard pattern.

Oh, oh, oh, DEFINITELY a wire-frame, real time display of her body and the textures being transmitted, LIKE THIS:


You may say I am a dreamer... or you may agree, this could all be attained.

- Dale Coba

Outta sight, makin' things with Lite-Bright.

[dale coba]

Gizmodo

The Best Sex Toy Ever Just Got Kinkier

A couple years ago, we said that Hello Touch may be the best sex toy ever invented. But now Jimmyjane has updated its Power Glove-like vibrating device to make it more powerful and more, well, interesting. Now, the so-called Pleasure Pods that attach to the end of your fingers not only vibrate, they deliver electric shocks.

Don't worry–it's all very safe. The new Hello Touch X offers a rather pleasurable electro stimulation experience. The technology is not unlike what physical therapists use to make your muscles feel better, and you can imagine how a little bit of e-stim will make your partner feel like they've never felt before. I've tried it myself (on a PG part of my body) and would describe the sensation is something between a tickle and a pinch.



That's on the lower levels of the 10 different intensity levels. When you crank up the Hello Touch X, let's just say that things might get a little bit kinky. And six pulsation modes will leave you guessing. Jimmyjanes describes e-stim as "an ideal way to test the pleasure/pain boundaries of S&M." Research also shows that e-stim is an effective treatment for sexual dysfunction in women and can produce more intense orgasms. And again, there's no risk of bodily harm.

All that said, the increased power of vibration motors in the Hello Touch X Pleasure Pods is worth the upgrade–regardless of whether you're intrigued by the e-stim experience or already own the first generation of the device. It's worth pointing out the Hello Touch X comes with two sets of Pleasure Pods: one for vibration and one for e-stim.

You can't do both at the same time, unless you buy two devices. Then again, you also don't want to overwhelm your partner.

Jimmyjane is also updating its flagship line of waterproof, rechargable vibrators with the launch of the Hello Touch X. The new Form 5 looks a little bit like Batman, and the Pleasure Wings that give it that appearance represent an interesting innovation in vibrator design. A powerful motor in the center of the device causes the silicon wings to flap slightly, providing pleasure on all sides. Men can use it, too.

The Best Sex Toy Ever Just Got Kinkier

The Hello Touch X and the Form 5 go on sale today at Jimmyjane's website. Both cost $145. Both are great gifts.

[dale coba]

Cortana Costume with Animating LEDs
body suit with sewn-in components and 3d printed stencils.



- Dale Coba

[Stephaniebot]

Looks very impressive, wouldn't mind wearing that. Or is it more a case of it wearing you?