Can head-mounted displays deliver a satisfying sexual experience?

Tenga, a Japanese manufacturer of masturbation aids, is breaking into a new frontier: virtual reality. Using a head-mounted display and headphones, it's conducting experiments with the SR (Substitutional Reality) System, which substitutes live footage and reality with pre-recorded footage.

A recent example involved adult video actress Love Saotome, who posed in front of a web journalist wearing the head-mounted display. She eventually began undressing, touched the journalist on his shoulder, and offered him one of Tenga's sex toys. Before things got too steamy, though, Tenga's director, Takashi Matsūra, appeared to inform him that due to mechanical problems, the experiment was over. It was then that the journalist found out, to some dismay, that he hadn't actually been staring at Saotome at all, but at Matsūra! He had gestured and touched the journalist's shoulder to provide the sense of a human presence, and presumably also to troll him.

WARNING: NSFW



This video shows what was actually happening during the experiment.

In an interview later, Matsūra said the idea for using Substitutional Reality came from virtual reality video games, and suggested that SR might appear in Tenga's "video boxes" (private rooms for watching porn) in the future. "You don't need a monitor in front of your eyes; empty space would suffice. Depending on the situation, you'd pick the girl you want, and she'd appear in front of you holding a Tenga [sex toy]."

Virtual reality is among the technologies Japan is at the forefront of research into. Encounters with girls are one of the experiences it often tries to replicate, from virtual dates to kissing Hatsune Miku.

Tenga previously held a demonstration with the virtual reality headset manufacturer Oculus VE and theof grip-based controller Novint Falcon for a similar simulation.

[Via Kai-You]