Haptics refers the process of recognizing objects through the sense of touch.1 Researchers in psycho-physics have long explored our ability to identify physical objects through exploratory procedures, such as moving the fingers over the outer surface of the object or holding the entire object in the hand.2

Scientists and engineers also have a history of haptics research that focuses on how designed haptic feedback can be used to simulate "real" touch feedback in virtual environments. Haptics have also been designed into devices to improve efficiency and performance of tasks.


The Problem with Touch Screens

An abundance of touch-screen interfaces and devices have recently emerged and become a popular feature for consumer devices. In the process, two realizations have surfaced:

1. Pushing pixels around a screen does not offer the haptic response that our body/mind expects.

2. The experience of using a flat, smooth "touch" screen is nominal in comparison to the experience of using touch in the complex physical world.

These realizations appeal to the need for a return to "True" Haptics, or touch feedback that is true and equal to that of the experience in the physical world. For example, according to True Haptics, pressing an icon on a screen would mean pushing an actual bump and feeling the resistance as it slightly gives to the pressure of the finger.

Fusing True Haptics with Digital Performance

How is it possible to incorporate both True Haptics and the versatility that screen-based interfaces offer? The Navitus RM-NX7000 Integrated Remote Controller is an existing product developed at Sony Research.3 It contains a screen with buttons that raise slightly to offer true tactile feedback. This integration between screen-based interface and true haptics is just the beginning of what haptic experiences lie in the future.

With current research in dynamic materials, our present expectations for future devices and interfaces are likely to be obsolete. When dynamic materials offer the ability for objects to change shape and form, the use of a flat touch screen will seem constrained. Imagine an interface that can extrude to match the shape and texture of an image as well as allow for a haptic feedback as the user interacts with the image. The MIT Media Lab has named this concept Radical Atoms4 and researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University are currently exploring this type of materials science.5

Keeping the future of materials in mind, designers and engineers should begin, now, to explore the integration of True Haptic experiences into devices and interfaces. This exploration will pave the way for effective applications of dynamic materials and will lead to an unprecedented fusion between digital and tangible experiences.