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A team at MIT has come up with three prototype wallets that shrink, expand, buzz and tighten up according to the state of the owner's bank balance
Researchers in the Information Ecology group at the MIT Media Lab have developed wallets that can shrink, expand, buzz or tighten up depending on the state of the owner's finances.
The 'proverbial wallets' use haptic feedback — a technology related to the sense of touch — to alert people if they are spending too much money.
The wallets work in conjunction with an app on the user's smartphone, which receives financial data directly from the bank. The app then sends commands to the wallets via Bluetooth. Each wallet has a different device — a resistive hinge, a vibration motor or a servo — that responds to the commands.
So far the team has come up with three prototype designs, named after the animal characteristics they most closely resemble.
Pictured above is the Mother Bear wallet, which tries to protect the money inside it. The wallet becomes harder to open the less money there is in the owner's bank account.
Caption by: Jon Yeomans
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