European researchers have virtually teleported real objects through cyberspace, touched things in virtual reality and even felt the movements of a virtual dance partner. It sounds like science fiction, but advances in haptic technology and a new approach to generating VR content are helping to create virtual experiences that are far more realistic and immersive than anything achieved before. Not only do users see and hear their virtual surroundings, objects and avatars, but they can touch them as well, paving the way for new applications in telepresence, telemedicine, industrial design, gaming and entertainment.
Nine universities and research institutes are developing technology to make VR objects and characters touchable. With funding from the EU in the Immersence project, they developed innovative haptic and multi-modal interfaces, new signal processing techniques and a pioneering method to generate VR objects from real-world objects in real time. The researchers also worked on techniques that would allow a user to feel different textures and sense the stiffness of an object, enabling them to differentiate between a hard box, a soft fluffy frog or even a liquid.
More information:
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&BrowsingType=Features&ID=91335
More information:
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&BrowsingType=Features&ID=91335