[accessibleimage] Fwd: Web-based haptic technology on the horizon

Interesting article

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Gizmag (UK)
Friday, August 31, 2007

Web-based haptic technology on the horizon

While sound and sight are the easiest senses to reach with conventional media, 
they are by no means the most sophisticated. Haptic technology is designed to 
communicate through the subtle and sensitive channels of the tactile senses, 
which include perceptions of temperature and pressure. And researchers at 
Queen's University, Belfast, say a fully networked, haptic future is not as far 
away as it sounds. Professor Alan Marshall has begun a three year project to 
design the network architectures needed to support the addition of touch to the 
computer human interface.

The benefit of haptic technology is that it allows us to communicate with 
computers, and other users, in a way that's far more natural and comfortable 
than squinting at a glaring monitor, or straining our wrists over a keyboard. 
Haptics could also prove useful for people who, due to visual impairment, are 
unable to effectively operate computers as they are made today. And by making 
available a whole new category of sensations, haptic technology will open up 
gigantic possibilities for developers. Marshall imagines a future where online 
shoppers can feel the garment they want to buy, and where gamers feel the force 
of each virtual impact.

Marshall's team is dedicated to networking haptic technology. At present, 
almost all haptic devices are only capable of being connected to a single 
stand-alone system. Making haptic technology suitable for the internet means 
allowing users to share the tactile information without being overly affected 
by lagging or bandwidth issues. This initiative is the latest exploration of 
haptics commissioned by Queen's University. The University performed the first 
long distance tele-haptic coloration over the internet in 2003, and is 
currently leading a project that allows the blind and visually impaired to 
access web content.

The seeds of haptic technology have been evident for about a decade, however it 
has usually been applied in the bluntest possible fashion. Vibration alerts for 
incoming calls or messages on mobile phones are haptic, as are rumble features 
in the hand controllers for video game consoles. More recently, we've seen 
haptic arm-wrestling, haptic workstations, and haptic information displays. 


http://www.gizmag.com/go/7918/ 

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