Touch, Touch Me Do

As I was surfing the net rather aimlessly yesterday (one of the Devil's favourite pastimes), I happened to come across this rather interesting bit of scientific news - haptic technology.

What exactly is haptic technology then? Well, Wikipedia says that it refers to "technology which interfaces the user via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibration and/or motions to the user". A definition as dry as British wit. I think what it's trying to say is that haptic technology is when you interact with an interface, that interface will interact back by stimulating your peripheral nerves responsible for detecting touch, vibration and motion. Golly, that's just as bad a description given by old Wiki there.

Perhaps it'd be easier to give an example. Say you touch a button on a touchscreen (because that's what buttons on touchscreens are for). Normally, you'd only feel the smooth, flat qualities of the glass surface. However, when haptics are integrated into the screen, you would feel as if you were touching a real button, and not that smooth, flat glass screen. It's like feeling something that isn't there. Somehow, unrequited love comes to mind.

Imagine the possibilities of such a thing. You already have virtual reality - go ahead and throw in some haptic technology and not only can you see things which aren't actually there, now you are even able to feel them. This sounds disturbingly similar to what a person with migraine might feel when having their aura.

Medicine happens to be one of the fields to have embraced haptics (not much surprise there). howstuffworks.com says here that 'medical students can now perfect delicate surgical techniques on the computer, feeling what it's like to suture blood vessels in an anastomosis or inject BOTOX into the muscle tissue of a virtual face'. Wonderful! Now if only we can persuade people to go for haptic enhanced face-lifting procedures.

I think for the time being, I'll just settle for this haptic-enabled phone from Samsung *smile*