Cyber sex with real touching?

Cyber sex just may have gotten tech-ier and hotter. What do you get when Japanese kids get their computer to hook up with ultrasound? Ultrasonic waves produce “virtual” objects in mid-air, the BBC reports. As if the debate on “what constitutes cheating” wasn’t tough enough…Any thoughts?

A bit on the technology below:

Takayuki Iwamoto and colleagues from the University of Tokyo have now demonstrated a simple haptic device that employs a number of ultrasonic transducers, which emit ultrasound.

Sound is a pressure wave, meaning that as the inaudible sound waves from each of the transducers interfere, they can create a focal point that is perceived as a solid object.

The team’s prototype system includes a camera which tracks the position of a user’s hand and shifts the output from the transducers to move the focus around with the hand. The result is a feeling of tracing the edge or surface of the virtual object.