Tactile Augmented Reality is Approaching Reality

For years most people have described Augmented Reality through its visual manifestation: visually perceived augmentations on the physical world objects about which they relate. While other forms of augmentation such as auditory AR for the sight impaired user are possible and offered in unusual cases, tactile or haptic AR has been described rarely and demonstrated even less frequently. Even Metaio’s “Touch AR” technology introduced in 2014 is not haptic AR (it uses IR sensors to detect the heat left on a surface following the touch of a finger).

In this article on Popular Science web site, the revolutionary work of the Digital Nature Group in University of Tsukuba led by Assistant Prof. Yoichi Ochiai describes the use of “lasers, mirrors and cameras to create three-dimensional, interactive holograms comprised of tiny points of light called voxels.”

This technology could be highly valuable in scenarios where users are required to interact with touch but cannot “really” touch the target of interest due to protective clothing or other requirements for safety reasons.

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