Devices getting more and more digital. Interaction reduced to the minimum. Experiences fail completely.
Everywhere are screens. It is difficult to imagine the world without screens. On screens you can display almost everything maybe for now it is ok. But in the future all these screens might kill us. The screens and digital content are out of control. As I said earlier they provide information, data, entertainment and let us constantly connect with our friends and our environment. Communication is an ever present feature of human interaction. Communication help to describe the processes of communication that take place during interaction. Accordingly the communication to screens is reduced to simple gestures like up, down, left, right and press and don’t let us communicate in a natural way. The feeling of haptic get lost in screen interfaces. Human interfaces need to be rooted and tangible in some form, something that indicates haptics, emotions and feelings.
In addition to seeing and hearing, feeling is one of humans most important sensory modalities.
How to generate a feedback?
Examples:
- haptic feedback (noticeable confirmation)
- vibration
- counterforce
- shape/surface modification
- material condition (cold / warm)
- audio feedback
- sound/tone
- visual feedback
- enlargement of the elements by touch
- color
- shape appearance
Where can feedback be installed?
Examples:
- Robotics
- Games
- Smartphone
- Devices of all kinds
- Medicine
- At home
- etc.
The time is right for haptic applications
Despite these obvious benefits and their potential is haptic technology not been strong enough for our everyday lives as you would expect. The reasons for this have been in the past due to the lack of suitable technologies. However, that has changed in recent years. The essential components for haptic interaction already exist and are nearing their breakthrough.
Even today, various manufactures distribute haptic interaction devices that can , for example, serve all six directions of movements of the human hand and generate realistic power feedback.
Algorithms that specifically target haptic feedback have reached a high degree of maturity and can be used even for complex virtual scenarios.
The VR Technology has gone through a hype and is in Gartner’s hype cycle near the plateau of productivity. Today, however, all indications point to an early breakthrough of haptic feedback technology. Especially in connection with the VR, the haptic feedback promises to trigger the next hype.
