#220 - Haptic Intelligence Technology: A New Sense of Presence Enabled by Haptic Feedback

In past reports, Webrain has focused on the digitization of the human senses of sight, smell, taste, and flavor. This report continues with this topic by examining the challenge of digitizing the sense of touch. For a long time, the term "tactile" has been associated in English with the human sense of touch. When discussing technologies related to this sense, however, there is a growing trend to use the term “haptic.” 

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Webrain examines the latest developments in haptic technology across four categories: surface haptics (and related touchless screens), wearable haptics, handheld haptics, and mid-air haptics. These technologies have a wide range of potential applications, including next-generation interfaces such as kiosks and in-vehicle controls, entertainment such as immersive gaming, and education and training such as vocational training. 

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The report concludes with a discussion how our social life and social behavior would be affected if haptic technology evolves to enable emotional and sensory communication through the digitized sense of touch.