Shoppers, lovers, and gamers online could 'feel' different in the future, thanks to thanks to research being carried out at Queen’s University into a new technology which has the potential to add the sense of touch to virtual worlds.
Online shoppers will be able feel the products they want to buy, interactive gamers will immediately feel the force of an impact while long distance couples connected via the Internet will be able to experience the sensation of an embrace or "something more" with this new technology being developed at the Belfast-based university.
It won't be just gamers, lovers, and shoppers online who will benefit from this research, as the new technology also promises to permit blind and visually impaired people to access the internet in a way they cannot currently.
Professor Alan Marshall and his colleagues in the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queen’s are to spend the next three years working on new network architectures to support the addition of senses other than sound and vision, particularly that of ‘touch’.
Known as haptic technology, such systems interface the user via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations and motions to the user.
Professor Marshall and his partners, including BT (UK), Immersion (USA) and HandshakeVR (Canada), hope to develop networks to increase the user’s immersion in a virtual environment by allowing them not only to see but also to touch the environment around them and also be able to share these sensations with fellow users in numerous locations.
The study will also aim to overcome the challenge of maintaining a consistent view of the shared information in the face of network delays and variable bandwidth.
“If we are to enter the ‘second age’ of the internet, then it must be able to support multimodal communication, including additional senses," Professor Marshall, who is principal investigator of the project, said. “Take the Nintendo Wii as an example. It has already revolutionised gaming without players having the ability to receive any touch-related feedback. Imagine what it would be like if we could select to play a virtual character based on Roger Federer and feel every impact of his serve, in real time.”
Geographically separated lovers are thrilled by the prospect of being able to touch their partners across vast distance.
"I am in the Philippines and my boyfriend is in New York," said RosaRoja, who met and fell in love with Raven on Internet Relay Chat. "We only meet each other once a year, and I feel lonely without his touch for the remainder of the time. I hope this technology develops so I can feel his caress on my body."
Raven whole-heartedly agreed.
"Today we can send voice and video over IP," he said. "Tomorrow it could be touch, smell, and even taste. There are many couples out their who are geographically separated due to economic, legal or other reasons. I hope this new research will be able to bridge this gap."
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