Touch we all live for it. Just think about the cry of a baby and how it elicits the mother to hug her child, or the soft feel of a puppy’s fur, a wonderful sensation; quite different than the cold, hard, sleek feel of the car you just bought. But if you are human, the first thing you experience is that touch helps you learn. An infant will put everything in their mouth because this sensory tactile behavior is a learning necessity. Textures are part of our world and our senses are geared to understand those textures on a fundamental level we do not always think about but can hardly live without.
Haptic technology which has been around in one form or another since the 1970’s. It is the creation of artificial touch sensations by the use of enabled gloves, artificial limbs, and other technical devices we will discuss within this article. Artificial haptic sensations can present information to users, help them complete a task, augment or replace the other senses, and add immersiveness and realism to virtual interactions you might already be familiar with a form of haptic sensations when you pick up your vibrating phone for that incoming call or message or when your game controller vibrates to give you feedback on the game you are playing but the future of haptic technology is much more than vibrations; in the future more intricate sensations lay ahead. The goal of haptic technology is to merge with our reality in a sense allowing us to feel not only vibrations but the next level possible in the form of texture sensations. Can you imagine at the flip of your finger or the movement of your hand being able to feel and change your reality both real and mixed?
There are three main Haptic types currently on the market: wearable, touchable and graspable. Motion is the fourth and it is, some believe the “future of haptic” but first let’s look at the three most common.
For graspable, think about grasping a joystick for a cool game you are playing or a surgeon grasping the robotic controls while performing a surgery with robotic assistance; or how about haptic responses when controlling a military drone, those sensations are needed when performing intricate tasks such as these. Graspable devices are often controlled by the feeling of movement, position and force and how it relates to us via our skin, muscles and joints.
Wearable haptic technology can also be a huge benefit for those individuals whom have loss 
of sensation or loss of limb and using robotic prosthetics. Think about how amazing that technology is when it can bring a sense of “touch” back into your life, allowing you to feel the object you touch and pick it up with your prosthetic hand. Wearable haptic relies more upon the tactile sensations: temperature, friction and pressure brought about by the nerves in the skin.
Another example of wearable technology is the Teslasuit it is a full body VR haptic suit, containing motion capture, climate control and they are currently working on biometric feedback to add to the suit as well. It provides an array of sensations such as light touch to more harder “punches” during game play but the cool thing is that when you feel the punch, it is adaptive to your own muscle strength with no damage to skin or muscles. You will not bruise if punched no matter how hard you are hit. You would also be able to feel such things as the wind from a fan or an explosion from a building.
Named a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree in Virtual and Augmented Reality, the Teslasuit is a full-body haptic suit that enhances virtual and augmented reality experience through the synergy of haptics, motion tracking, and biometry. Working with engineers, designers, programmers, medical doctors and AR specialists to come up with a smart textile two-piece full bodysuit that consists of a jacket and trousers», Muchaneta Kapfunde, FashNerd
Google’s Project Jacquard is a wearable denim jacket that allows you to connect to your smart device, your apps and services by a simple movement such as sliding your hand over the cuff of your sleeve. In the near future you will see more of this with conductive yarns being built in to your everyday fabrics; from clothing, curtains, blankets and more to create smart fabrics, the use of this technology potential is staggering.
Other examples of haptic currently being developed uses a form of prototype motion gesture that allows the user a tactile experience as Ultrasound waves strike the users hand as it hovers over buttons and controls making it feel like they are touching the driver’s gear shift, etc. example would be Bosch’s view of the smart car with haptic feedback.
A similar example could be found at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, where Ultrahaptics demoed a not so standard ATM with holographic controls that allowed the users to feel the flat buttons and controls there as well. Imagine the use for Braille readers to allow for the feel of braille letters over flat buttons or for the use of telling time on a smart watch.
With the haptic technology in place you can imagine shopping online and being able to feel the texture of the sweater you are interested in via a form of holographic presentation and haptic technology? You could also feel and maneuver controls in mid-air flipping through internet pages, touch a hologram sent to you on your smartphone, open your smart curtains by a small movement of your finger or wrist or find out how close your Lyft is by swiping the sleeve of your jacket. The scope is limitless when it comes to haptics, with haptic technology the future is just beginning.
If you have any questions or feedback on this blog, we’d love to hear it in the comment section below or email me at lori@cgcircuit.com
About the Author:
Lori Hammond, CG Circuit
Author & Content Producer
Experienced multi-talented Artist/Designer/Blogger with an extensive background in the Arts & Entertainment Industry(Animation, VFX, Game & Product Design)
