Virtual Insanity: Japanese Startup Makes Electric Shock Bracelet So You Can Experience Pain in the Metaverse

A Japanese startup firm has reportedly developed a wristband that can deliver electric shocks to its wearer so you can experience pain in the metaverse.

Futurism reports that a Japanese startup firm called H2L Technologies has developed a wristband that can send electric shocks to its wearer, allowing them to experience pain in the metaverse.

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H2L CEO Emi Tamaki told the Financial Times: “Feeling pain enables us to turn the metaverse world into a real [world], with increased feelings of presence and immersion.” Because what all virtual reality users were begging for was a way to feel pain in the metaverse as they do in real life.

The startup is backed by Sony and isn’t designed to only inflict pain but to convey “weight and resistance feeling to users and avatars on the Metaverse,” according to H2L.

The wristband can reportedly use electrical stimulation to mimic a range of sensations including catching a ball or the sensation of a bird pinching the user’s skin. Tamaki stated that the company’s goal is to “release humans from any sort of constraint in terms of space, body and time” within the next ten years.

Tamaki said that the idea for the wristband came to her after she suffered a near-death experience in her late teens due to congenital heart disease. Tamaki stated: “I realized life was precious so I decided to work on a new field that I really wanted to dig into, as there was no one doing research at the time.”

Tamaki sees the metaverse as a way to experience the outside world and believes it is particularly beneficial for people with medical issues like her who “don’t have enough muscle due to heart disease.” Tamaki says that her dream is to “travel anywhere, anytime” through the metaverse, and part of that could involve physical pain.

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