The Straw-like User Interface

Students at University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have created the Straw-like User Interface (SUI) which creates virtual drinking sensations by controlling pressure and creating vibrations in a device which resembles a glass with a straw in it. They took samples of the pressure and vibration of various foods/liquids being sucked through the straw and this device plays them back to give the illusion of drinking. They also made a game called Conspiratio where you have to drink up food brought to you by little animals but be careful not to drink the animals themselves. The video on the site is classic espescially the footage of them taking samples.

Parts of the cerebral cortex in the parietal lobe are involved with processing information related to touch. One such area is the primary somatosensory cortex. A map of the human somatosensory cortex was drawn by Dr. Wilder Penfield shows that our lips are among the most sensitive areas, therefore it is also possible to treat it as an excellent sensory device.
For this reason, our research aims for the establishment of the method of novel information transmission using our lips.

Currently, we are conducting research on the sensations of mouth and lips during drinking from straws. And thus we developed the Straw-like User Interface (SUI) that could transmit virtual drinking sensations to the user.

- The Straw-like User Interface

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]