Facebook pokes get physical

If you though Facebook pokes were annoying, wait till you hear this story.

Netherlands-based student inventors Jasper van Loenen and Bartholomäus Traubeck constructed an armband device that physically pokes you when someone pokes you virtually on Facebook.

“The Poking Machine”, as they call it, is a wearable device that pokes you physically whenever you are poked on Facebook, no matter where you are.

The poking machine has a motorized lever connected to a 9-volt battery and a Bluetooth chip. The chip is linked to your smartphone. When someone pokes you on Facebook, the message is sent to your smartphone and then to the poking machine, which has a dish sponge-shaped neon case.

Describing why they made it, Jasper and Bartholomäus said: “Online social networks are platforms for communication, enabling us to connect anywhere we go. However, they still lack the mediation of physical communication”.

“ Facebook tries to improve this by enabling its users to ‘poke’ each other, which basically only sends another written message to the person you poke, without conveying the original intent of the poking gesture”, the pair added.

“The Poking machine converts the message into an actual physical poke, extending the reach of this haptic gesture indefinitely. This way, users can connect not only virtually but also physically”.