MIT researchers create wearable book that simulates emotions

Enjoy reading, but incapable of forming opinions of your own? No problem! Scientists at MIT are developing “Sensory Fiction” books that give you biofeedback in the form of vibrations and temperature variations. Scientists say “Sensory Fiction” will increase immersion in the story and hopefully slow the exodus from printed books to e-readers, but I’m just glad that pesky imagination part has finally been taken out of it!

Has a book ever made you cry? It’s more rare than losing it at a movie for sure. All a fiction writer that’s trying to pull on your heartstrings has to work with are the 26 letters in the alphabet, a healthy imagination, and basic human empathy. But that probably won’t be the case for the books of the future. Researchers at MIT’s Media Lab have created a wearable, augmented book that tries to physically make you feel the characters’ feelings as you read the story. The project’s called Sensory Fiction. It’s a book covered in sensors and actuators and hooked up to a strappy vest type thing you wear while reading. As the plot unfolds, the gadget-book produces physical sensations to mimic the characters’ emotions.