By xanadu, Section News Posted on Sun Jul 06, 2003 at 02:21:08 PM PST
Engineers in the Virtual Reality Laboratory at University of Buffalo have developed a new technology that transmits the sensation of touch over the Internet. The breakthrough could lead to creation of haptic technologies that convey the sense of touch and would teach users how to master skills and activities -- such as surgery, sculpture, playing the drums or even golf -- that require precise application of "touch" and movement, says Thenkurussi Kesavadas, director of UB's Virtual Reality Lab and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences...
Though the technology is still a long way from being able to capture and communicate the complex feel of a perfect golf swing, Kesavadas and his fellow researchers have successfully used it to transmit from one person to another over the Internet the sensation of touching a soft or hard object, and the ability to feel the contour of particular shapes.
The researchers call their technology "sympathetic haptics," which means "having the ability to feel what another person feels," Kesavadas says. The technology communicates what another person is feeling through an active-tracking haptics system linked between two personal computers.
According to Kesavadas, their technology actually lets you feel what the other person is feeling. That very idea is part of a long-standing and unresolved debate about what consciousness is. Modern Philosophers deal with such questions as "Would someone using such a technology really feel what the other person feels, and how would they know?" and "Is the sensation of touch a subjective construction or not?". As a student of Philosophy this breakthrough presents questions as well as possibilities. For the rest of the world unconcerned with such big questions the possible applications for haptic technologies might suffice.
Bookmark this story with del.icio.us
Digg this story
Furl this item
Have you Reddit?