Video/Photos: London Student invents a machine which allows the wearer to “step into the body of another person”!

This is not science fiction in as much as it sounds like one! A London student has created a machine which attempts to create a realistic “body swap” by allowing the wearer to “step into the body of another person”.

The Pretender Project was invented by Yifei Chai as part of his studies at Imperial College London, using a combination of some off-the-shelf electronic devices together with some custom software.


A Microsoft Kinect device is used to observe the controller’s movements, and this data is then used to send electric shocks of between 40 and 80 volts to 34 different muscles to force the person to mimic that movement: when the controller brings his or her hand up to their eyes, the person being controlled is forced to do the same, and an image of that view is projected to the controller’s eyes.

click below to watch video:

Because users are able to step into someone else's bodies, they can experience first hand, real social interactions, and have the opportunity to behave under another character without physical restrictions......Weird!