Feel it in the air! This is the future of touch

Feel it in the air! This is the future of touch —

What will the future of touch look like? With haptic technology, which could be described as the science of touch, users have a physical experience, making the technology more interactive. This will revolutionize the gaming experience but also be useful in medicine and every-day life. How about plants that can interpret how you touch them?

Courtesy Disney Research

This is not a burning bush, but rather a plant that is happy to be caressed. Scientists and developers at <a href="http://www.disneyresearch.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank">Walt Disney Research</a> in Pittsburgh have come up with <em>Botanicus Interacticus</em>, which, in combination with the research team's sensing technology <em>Touché, </em>can turn any plant into a musical instrument, game controller, light switch and more.

Plants need love —

This is not a burning bush, but rather a plant that is happy to be caressed. Scientists and developers at Walt Disney Research in Pittsburgh have come up with Botanicus Interacticus, which, in combination with the research team's sensing technology Touché, can turn any plant into a musical instrument, game controller, light switch and more.

Courtesy Disney Research

Ok, so Gandalf managed to shape a galleon by puffing smoke from his pipe, but that was obviously fiction. <a href="http://www.disneyresearch.com/project/aireal/" target="_blank" target="_blank">AIREAL</a> works by shaping air, for real. Also developed by Disney Research, AIREAL uses a ring of air that can travel several meters while keeping its shape and velocity. When it hits your skin, the ring collapses with a force you can feel.

Light as air —

Ok, so Gandalf managed to shape a galleon by puffing smoke from his pipe, but that was obviously fiction. AIREAL works by shaping air, for real. Also developed by Disney Research, AIREAL uses a ring of air that can travel several meters while keeping its shape and velocity. When it hits your skin, the ring collapses with a force you can feel.

Courtesy Disney Research

Play outside the box —

By using several devices at once, AIREAL can create the sensation of tactile feedback from several angles when playing video games or watching films.

Courtesy Disney Research

First there were buttons, then there was the touchscreen. And now there is the hands-free touchscreen. Researchers from the <a href="http://big.cs.bris.ac.uk/" target="_blank" target="_blank">Bristol Interaction and Graphics Group</a> have developed <em>UltraHaptics</em>. Users can now get tactile feedback from a touchscreen mid-air. "Waves of ultrasound displace the air, creating a pressure difference. By causing many waves to arrive at the same place simultaneously, a noticeable pressure difference is created at that point. With this method, we are able to create multiple, concurrent points of haptic feedback in mid-air."

Don't leave me hanging —

First there were buttons, then there was the touchscreen. And now there is the hands-free touchscreen. Researchers from the Bristol Interaction and Graphics Group have developed UltraHaptics. Users can now get tactile feedback from a touchscreen mid-air. "Waves of ultrasound displace the air, creating a pressure difference. By causing many waves to arrive at the same place simultaneously, a noticeable pressure difference is created at that point. With this method, we are able to create multiple, concurrent points of haptic feedback in mid-air."

Courtesy Matt Sutton, University of Bristol

Enhance your audio experience while gaming or listening to music. <a href="http://get.woojer.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank">Woojer</a> has developed a device that clips onto your clothing in one or more places along "strategic meridian bodylines." It convinces the brain that your entire body is experiencing high acoustic sound via perceptual inference.

Feel the sound —

Enhance your audio experience while gaming or listening to music. Woojer has developed a device that clips onto your clothing in one or more places along "strategic meridian bodylines." It convinces the brain that your entire body is experiencing high acoustic sound via perceptual inference.

Courtesy Woojer, Ltd.

<a href="http://www.ivanpoupyrev.com/projects/shaptics.php" target="_blank" target="_blank">Surround Haptics</a>, by <a href="http://www.disneyresearch.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank">Disney Research</a>, uses a grid of vibrating actuators to create moving tactile strokes on your skin. It feels like someone dragging a finger across your skin. It sounds creepy but there are many applications -- maybe in a motorcycle jacket that would let you feel the traffic around you or in gaming, feeling every motion.

Real-life gaming experiences —

Surround Haptics, by Disney Research, uses a grid of vibrating actuators to create moving tactile strokes on your skin. It feels like someone dragging a finger across your skin. It sounds creepy but there are many applications -- maybe in a motorcycle jacket that would let you feel the traffic around you or in gaming, feeling every motion.

Courtesy Disney Research

This simulation doesn't fall flat —

TeslaTouch is another haptic technology developed by Disney Research and simulates 3D geometric features on touch screens. It aims to let touch screen users feel different sensations on glass.

Courtesy Disney Research

Put the kettle on —

For example, TeslaTouch could let you run your fingers across a screen and feel the texture of a picture of a teapot.

Courtesy Disney Research

<a href="http://www.tactustechnology.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank">Tactus Technology</a> has invented a dial pad that will only appear when the surface of a touchscreen is being touched. These buttons on demand might make you think of bubble wrap, but will provide the sensation of real buttons.

Rise to the occasion —

Tactus Technology has invented a dial pad that will only appear when the surface of a touchscreen is being touched. These buttons on demand might make you think of bubble wrap, but will provide the sensation of real buttons.

Courtesy Tactus Technology

Not just a doorknob —

Objects that recognize your touch and act accordingly? When you leave your office, use two fingers on a doorknob to mean "be right back", or hold it with your entire hand to lock the door completely. All possible thanks to the prototype Touché device from Disney Research.

Courtesy Disney Research

San Francisco-based inventor Steve Hoefer from <a href="http://grathio.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank">Grathio Labs</a> has developed a prototype haptic device called Tacit, which applies pressure to the wrist when objects come in range of its sensors. It's intended to help the blind navigate.

Now feel this —

San Francisco-based inventor Steve Hoefer from Grathio Labs has developed a prototype haptic device called Tacit, which applies pressure to the wrist when objects come in range of its sensors. It's intended to help the blind navigate.

Courtesy Steve Hoefer