If you ever wished you could literally poke someone in real life using Facebook's poke feature, then this is your lucky day. Meet the Poking Machine — a small apparatus that can transform your virtual pokes on the social network into haptic feedback you can feel.
The Poking Machine is a boxy device encased in plastic that you can wear on your arm to turn humdrum poke wars with friends into fun, epic ones. It was created by inventors Jasper van Loenen andBartholomäus Traubeck, who was also responsible for the record player that can translate tree rings into music. To keep track of every incoming poke, the device connects via bluetooth to an Android phone with a Facebook app.
According to the creators, they made the Poking Machine because while social networks connect us anywhere we go, "they still lack the mediation of physical communication." Sadly, there aren't any plans to make the quirky little contraption commercially available — but you can watch the video above to get an idea of what it might take to build one of your own.
[via The Next Web]
This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca
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