AS IF THE METAVERSE WASN’T PAINFUL ENOUGH ALREADY!

Feel the pain

A Japanese startup called H2L Technologies wants you to be able to feel pain within the metaverse, through a bracelet that emits small electric shocks.

It’s a strange new development that shows companies are willing to go far in their quest to blur the lines between reality and the virtual world, reports the Financial Times.

“Feeling pain allows us to turn the world of the metaverse into a real [world], with greater feelings of presence and immersion,” H2L CEO Emi Tamaki told the FT.

The Sony-backed startup’s wearable isn’t designed with just inflicting pain in mind. It is also meant to convey a “sense of weight and resistance to users and avatars in the Metaverse,” according to the company.

Virtual journey

Thanks to the bracelet’s electrical stimulation, it can mimic a variety of sensations, from catching a ball to a bird pinching the wearer’s skin.

Tamaki’s goals are much larger than a simple bracelet. She hopes to “liberate humans from any kind of restriction in terms of space, body and time” in the next decade.

The idea for the wearable haptic device reportedly came to him after he had a near-death experience in his teens due to congenital heart disease.

“I realized that life was precious, so I decided to work in a new field that I really wanted to delve into, since there was no one doing research at the time,” Tamaki told the FT.

For her, it’s a way to connect with the outside world, especially for people like her who “do not have enough muscle due to heart disease.” His dream is to “travel anywhere, anytime” through technology, even if that experience involves physical pain.