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Smiling Vehicle Displays Human Emotions
- 8 January 2010
At TOKYO FIBER ’09 SENSEWARE, a Smiling Vehicle was on show.
The Smiling Vehicle was created by Nissan Motor and the Hara Design Institute Nippon Design Center. It utilizes ROICA, a polyurethane elastomer fiber from Asahi Kasei, to give the Nissan Cube a soft skin. This enables the car to show facial expressions.
The polyurethane elastomer fiber ROICA can stretch by 500% to 900%, and shows outstanding recovery from stretching. It has lots of applications, including outerwear, innerwear, and sportswear, as well as car seats, shoes, and medical supporters and taping.
The expressions produced with this fiber are created by animatronics, a technology widely used in film. It includes details such as eyebrow and cheek movements, which are vital for creating human-like facial expressions.
Sounding a horn has negatives connotations, but if cars could smile a new method of communication while driving could evolve.
This work considers the car as an extension of the driver’s character, and suggests that it might give rise to emotional exchanges.
Related Links :
- http://tokyofiber.com/en/ (TOKYO FIBER '09 SENSEWARE)
Related Links :
- http://tokyofiber.com/en/ (TOKYO FIBER '09 SENSEWARE)
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