Galvanic vestibular manipulation: remote-controlling humans

Researchers at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp, a telephone company in Japan, have come up with a means to remotely control people. The person wears a special headset that channels very low levels of electricity into the ear, knocking the body's ability to maintain balance out of whack. By manipulating the electrical current through a joystick interface, the person can be made to move to the left or right. The applications range from a means of nonlethal weaponry to enhancing one's videogame to improving the balance of an aspiring ballet dancer. Reasearchers were able to direct subjects around a course in the shape of a pretzel.

One of the obvious applications that wasn't mentioned in the article: parenting tool. But seriously, who's the sick puppy executive over at the Japanese electronics company that thought this was the project worthy of developing?

For a brief history of the remote control: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story061.htm

For a different type of non-lethal weapon currently in use by US military in Iraq:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/03/03/sonic.weapon.ap/