The condom has changed little in the last 100 years, which is quite ridiculous if you think about how few people like this old-fashioned. In fact, many people are so unhappy with this tire that they don't use it at all, one problem which the researchers of the University of Georgia believe it can to be solved by electronics. Let's see the Electric Eel.
Franz Peer and Andrew Quitmeyer created a prototype of an open source digital condom that is literally wired with electrodes on the side and connected to a micro remote control. THE device creates electrical impulses along the shaft, mimicking the pleasurable sensation dulled by traditional condoms. It is called - somewhat frighteningly - the Electric Eel or Electric Eel.
The researchers bravely tested the sex gadget on themselves, as well as others, and apparently people found the sensation “pleasant, reassuring and exciting” – which I imagine followed the initial terror and uncomfortable feeling that their manhood maybe he was getting a slight electric shock.
Peer and Quitmeyer have created two DIY versions of Electric Eel, one consisting of an uncovered condom attached to electrodes and one that is actually a conductive sock. The built-in LilyPad Arduino Controller can get a lot of information and be programmed, so these guys fix it to a breast belt and have it programmed to feel your partner's breathing, adjusting the electrical pulses at that pace.
It might sound crazy, and it's definitely in the early stages of development, but these guys are serious about creating the next generation of condoms. They are trying to raise $10,000 on Indiegogo and have launched a related business called commingle.io to develop more open source sexual technology.
The idea is to enrich the sexual arousal through a computer, that is, hacking sex toys. "Our ultimate goal is to provide an arena where people can find and share new plans and packages to hack existing ones Appliances or build their own," the site explains, to develop "innovative means of interaction, new forms of stimulation, and methods for the safe creation and modification of sex toys by the user himself."
Of course they are not the only ones trying to reinvent the condom. The Gates Foundation organized a Great Challenge for the invention of the "New Generation of Condoms" and funded 13 finalists last November to develop their projects. The goal was the same: Finding the way to make condoms more enjoyable and easy-to-wear, so as not to soften the feeling, thus spoiling the mood.
"The main drawback on the part of the man is that condoms reduce pleasure compared to sex without a condom, creating a compromise that many men find unacceptable, especially if one takes into account that the decision to use should be made just prior to contact, "according to the announcement of the challenge.
Most of the Foundation's projects overcome this problem by using finer and stronger materials: polyurethane, nanomaterials such as chisel and a controversial cow-tendon design. Another design called "Rapidom" is a device that pulls the condom with a skilful and easy movement. So we have to wait for these innovations if Electric Eel does not reach the shelves of sex shops.
