Sci-Fi Come True
The basic basics of haptics
Calling all Star Trek fans!
Do you remember the Holodeck? It first appeared in an animated series in 1974, and kept making appearances on Star Trek movies and shows throughout the years.
If you don’t know, the Holodeck is a room that can be changed to look like anything anywhere, with holograms. It lets the person in it touch and feel anything they want in this new environment.
Did you ever imagine that a crazy sci-fi concept would come true?
Well if you said no, then you better think again, because today, you’re going to hear about a completely new type of technology that’s going to revolutionize the world in every aspect: education, medicine, military training, everything.
What are Haptics?
Haptics are a brand new type of tech that enables you to feel things that aren’t there without being diagnosed with some long-named mental condition lol.
A common & simple example of haptics is when your cell phone vibrates with a notification, but it gets much more complicated than that.
There are two main categories of haptics: kinesthetic and tactile haptics.
Kinesthetic haptics affect your muscles, joints, and tendons, whereas tactile haptics affect your skin (for example, the textures you feel).
There are a bunch of types of haptic feedback, each of which fit into the above two categories.
Let’s talk about each of them.
Ultrasound Feedback
Ultrasound feedback, a type of tactile haptics, is a type of haptics in which the user can touch virtual objects without wearing any type of glove.
These feelings of touch are created by sensations that are sent through the air from emitters.
Ultrasound feedback can be used in a ton of ways, one of the coolest being virtual reality. Could you imagine playing a horror game where you could FEEL the cold door handle on your skin before turning it open, only to take off your goggles and realize you were just feeling the air?
Unfortunately, this option is more costly than other types of haptics.
Thermal Feedback
Thermal haptics are another type of tactile haptics! But, they work differently than the other forms.
As the name implies, thermal feedback is a type of haptics that uses heat to provide a unique experience while doing different tasks.
Vibrotactile Feedback
The word vibrotactile has the same root as vibration for a reason. Vibrotactile feedback is a form of haptic feedback in which the user feels a vibration on their skin after a certain event takes place. This vibration is created by sound waves.
When your phone buzzes in your pocket, you automatically pull it out to check, and this is a form of haptics.
You may have also noticed this form of haptics on your smartwatch or video game controller, creating a memorable experience for the user.
Vibrotactile feedback, as it sounds, is a type of tactile haptics!
A really cool application of tactile feedback was used at Stanford University, where they helped a man with Parkinson’s walk again. Take a look at this video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMVC5IcNxIM&t=5s
Applications of Haptics
Now that you know the basics of each type of haptics, let’s talk about how they can each individually help us out in the future.
Haptics can be used on an increasingly large range of subjects, including medicine, gaming, education, history, architecture, and so much more.
Firstly, let’s discuss medicine. It’s honestly hard to name a select few applications of haptics in medicine, because this is easily going to be one of the most impacted fields. Haptics can help incredibly specialized doctors examine patients from thousands of miles away, and even use haptics to perform mock surgery on you without even cutting you open. They can even help doctors who can’t go into the operation room to operate on the patient by using haptics to feel the body as they work through a remote control robot.
Haptics can vastly improve the gaming experience. They can make VR games feel much more realistic, or normal other games much more memorable and interesting. From a simple vibration of a game controller to opening a door with a doorknob that isn’t really there, haptics can completely change the user’s experience.
Surprisingly, education can be improved through haptics as well. It can allow students to travel the world and learn new languages by putting on a pair of goggles, touch ancient artifacts and pieces of history from all of the world without leaving their classroom, and perform experiments such as animal dissections without having to kill or injure any animals.
It is hard to think of any simple task that can’t be resolved with haptics. Could you imagine online school with haptics, where it would feel like you were really in the classroom? It seems as if, with this new technology, the possibilities are endless.
They can let you try new foods, and not have to waste any if you didn’t like them. You can taste foods you’ve never been able to have because of your pesky allergies. You can exercise without having to leave the comfort of your home. They can improve physiotherapy for people that have to do it at home and don’t have equipment.
Let’s play a game. Close your eyes for 20 seconds, and count the number of ideas you can come up with for how haptics can make your world so much better. I guarantee you, you’ll end up with way more than you thought.
Technology is improving by leaps and bounds every single day, and more and more insane things that were never thought possible are being unlocked.
The world of haptics is magical, insane, and glorious all at the same time. A literal concept from a science fiction movie is now going to revolutionize the world. WOW.
And you, dear reader, have all the power in the world to make it happen sooner rather than later.
Let’s do ourselves and our kind a favor and change the world for the better with haptics.
