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Current State of Haptic Research
prostoalex writes "An article on InformIT.com looks at the current state of haptic technologies: "In the consumer realm, two companies dominate the field in the creation of tactile I/O devices: Immersion Corporation and SensAble Technologies. Right now, each seems interested in consolidating a position in the marketplace.""
haptic (hptk) adj. Of or relating to the sense of touch; tactile.
quis custodiet ipsos custodes
"haptic touch" is the name of the system that lets us feel stuff through objects we hold, to "feel the road through the stick or cane, or even through the wheels of a car we are driving."
I'm more interested in what this means for advancements in the Sinulator. Now that's what I want when I say, "Reach out and touch someone."
Mechanical fondleability someday.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
"Okay, gentlemen. We've been hired to plan a media blitz for a new company." ... how about an MTV-style commercial with kids dancing to 'Can't Touch This'?"
"What do they do?"
"Well, they research and market haptic peripherals."
"Huh?"
"Basically the stuff that reads your fingerprints. They want something fresh, exciting - something to pull the youth market."
"Okay
[SILENCE]
"Maybe what they really need is a catchy slogan."
"How about 'InGen Haptic Peripherals: OUR devices can recognize a severed finger. Can THEIRS?'".
"This is going to be a long day."
The device is a little hard to see in the picture: A person lies prone on a table, front or back down. Then a computer guided "thingee" hanging from a ceiling wire slides back and forth various parts of your skin. I think it can change the amount of pressure. The version at the show appeared to be entirely computer-run. People using it reported either being soothed or tickled.
I presume this could be converted into a teledildonic device by adding human control to the machine. Someone could say something erotic and touch various places on the body.
I used to run a web page devoted to FF and haptics called Force One, back in the day. I've been out to visit with both SensAble and Immersion; they both make very advanced and very different products.
The article mentioned goes into better detail, but in short, Immersion is in the retail and medical space, while SensAble is in the industrial and design spaces.
It's interesting to see what's happened in the consumer space in the past few years; there was a strong push in the very beginning from companies like Logitech and Microsoft (amongst others) to put FF on the map in gaming. As it's turned out, there's no longer a big focus on it; graphics have remained the dominant force (sorry, bad pun!) in gaming. Even sound is falling off the map; FF is far down the list of developer's priorities.
This has always bothered me; while graphics have had a huge focus, and therefore have progressed at a breakneck pace, haptics and other sensory channels have been largely ignored. At one point there was a researcher working with technology that would stimulate your vestibular nerves externally with an electric field. This nerve controls your sense of balance and motion; he'd put together an API that would interface with 3D graphics. So you'd wear this device that had metal contacts that go behind your ears, and you'd "feel" the motion in a first-person game. (He claimed no one ever got motion sick in testing. I call BS.)
I hope they continue moving forward with some of this stuff.