Haptics technology is more than shooting zombies

I’m not much of a video-gamer, but I absolutely loved playing a virtual reality (VR) game in a haptic vest. Feeling my back vibrate from a zombie attack and my arm recoil as I turned to shoot back made the experience so real.

It also showed me why technology devices that replicate touch are causing a sensation in such a variety of sectors. Add the emergence of the metaverse, and all my senses tell me haptic technology is a trend worth watching.

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What haptic technology is

If you have a smartphone that vibrates to make you check a new message, or a smart watch that buzzes to remind you to stand up, then you’ve experienced haptic technology.

Haptic devices use touch to transmit information. By combining indicators including temperature, vibration and pressure, they recreate the physical feedback we get from our interactions with the world and people around us.

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The benefits of haptic technology are spreading

The videogame industry realized early on that haptic devices like vibrating controllers made a big difference to the immersiveness of a gaming experience. The sector continues to drive haptic innovation through new accessories like haptic suits and gloves that make a game’s virtual world feel even more real.

While I’m all for better videogames, I’m even more excited by the benefits to society as haptics ripple out into healthcare, automotive and other sectors.

One example is haptics’ value to medical training. For healthcare professionals learning their trade, haptic feedback brings simulated learning closer to how it feels to examine and operate on real patients. For instance, haptic and VR simulators are helping train clinicians at Imperial College London on how to insert catheters and conduct rectal examinations.[1] Similar technology is also helping clinicians practice examining patients in challenging scenarios.[2] The aim is to increase the number of accurate diagnoses, but I imagine that feeling more prepared before you are faced with real patients is also very reassuring for clinicians.

Elsewhere, car manufacturers are building in new haptic features to help keep our eyes on the road. In the latest Audi electric E-Tron range for example, haptic buttons on the steering wheel simulate the feeling of pressing a button so you don’t have to look to check.[3] We’re also likely to see autonomous cars incorporate vibrating seats that use directional vibration to help alert drivers to hazards in a similar way to some existing Cadillac models.[4]

My favorite application though is enabling the deaf community to enjoy the experience of live music events. Not Impossible Labs and Avnet created a wearable haptic system that transmits music as vibrations through the skin.[5] It’s a joyful thing to watch deaf concert-goers in these suits experiencing music as viscerally as the hearing people around them. Technology innovation at its best.

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Looking ahead to a haptic metaverse

Alongside areas of current haptic innovation, I think the technology will make a profound difference to our experiences in the metaverse. Products like haptic gloves that engage more of our senses will help our interactions with people and objects in the metaverse feel more real.

Even something as simple as a handshake is likely to help us experience the virtual world in a more connected way. The data backs this up — a 2021 report found that 78% of respondents missed being able to physically touch people in virtual interactions.[6]

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Haptics has challenges to overcome

While I’m a believer in haptics’ potential, it’s clear that developers must tackle some difficult challenges to penetrate mainstream markets. To win over a future consumer metaverse market, for instance, wearable haptic devices need to be comfortable, affordable and not make you look like a cyborg. We’re not there yet.

A more fundamental challenge is around design and engineering. It’s hard and expensive to deliver sufficiently realistic, high-quality tactile and force feedback. But doing so is essential for haptics to gain traction in settings where it’s vital for users to feel the correct sense of resistance, temperature or pressure. Remote completion of hazardous industrial tasks and medical procedures are good examples.[7],[8] Both are also subject to stringent safety standards that set the bar high — and rightly so.

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Haptics and everyday life

Although these challenges mean we are some distance from widespread use in industry and healthcare, I think haptics has mainstream potential in consumer markets.

We’re already seeing the emergence of “haptic surfaces” in mainstream devices like car touchscreens and buttonless smartphones. Haptics manufacturer Hap2u has even produced a phone that can render textures on a touchscreen.[9]

I think wearable health and wellness devices will be another strong growth market. We’ll see smart wearables increasingly incorporate haptics to help us feel better. Devices like the Apollo haptic wearable band show us where this trend is leading. The band monitors the wearer’s stress responses and uses touch to alleviate them.[10]

And as I already mentioned, the metaverse will be a huge opportunity for haptics. Not only could haptic gloves help us feel connected to virtual metaverse environments, but we could also see “teletouch” become an important part of our metaverse experiences. This concept relies on 5G speed and responsiveness to make devices like haptic gloves effective at sending touch remotely.[11] Imagine feeling the hug of a loved one who is five thousand miles away. Now that’s an ambition I’d like to see realized.

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The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.

[1] https://www.imperial.ac.uk/engagement-and-simulation-science/our-work/research-themes/haptic-technology/ (Accessed 2023)

[2] https://www.digicatapult.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/20200929_DC_HapticPaper_UPDATE-2.pdf (Nov, 2020)

[3] https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/9/22320190/audi-q4-etron-suv-interior-augmented-reality-ar-photos (Mar, 2021)

[4]https://media.cadillac.com/media/us/en/cadillac/vehicles/xts/2013.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2012/Mar/0327_cadillac_safety.html (Mar, 2012)

[5] https://www.notimpossible.com/projects/music-not-impossible (Accessed 2023)

[6] https://www.nationalresearchgroup.com/news/for-meta-or-for-worse (Accessed 2023)

[7] https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/10/1/29 (Feb, 2021)

[8] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1811.07473.pdf (2013)

[9] https://www.hap2u.net/ (Accessed 2023)

[10] https://apolloneuro.com/ (Accessed 2023)

[11] https://www.digicatapult.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/20200929_DC_HapticPaper_UPDATE-2.pdf (Nov, 2020)