Tech Shout!

Gaming might just move to a whole new level in the future- one which will enable gamers to feel each and every sensation as they play, right from running on rocky terrain to being shot at or perhaps even a car crash in those racing games.

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a controller that allows computer users to manipulate 3D images and explore virtual environments not only via sight or sound, but by using their sense of touch!Known as the haptic device, it uses magnetic fields to replicate the response a hand might have when applied to textures and gravitational forces. Haptic refers to devices that convey the sense of touch.

According to Ralph L. Hollis, one of the Carnegie Mellon professors who developed the haptic controller, “We believe this device provides the most realistic sense of touch of any haptic interface in the world today.”

The haptic controller has just one moving part, just like a joystick that has a single block which is grasped by the hand. The haptic device rests in a bowl-like structure which is connected to a computer. Two of the controllers can even be used simultaneously to pick up and move virtual objects on a monitor.

The system developed at Carnegie Mellon differs from other technologies that simulate hand responses to touch because it relies on a part that floats in a magnetic field rather than on mechanical linkages and cables.

The haptic controller was showcased yesterday at Hollis’ lab where visitors were invited to move an image of a pin across a plate of various textures, causing the haptic controller to bump along ripples, vibrate across fine striations and glide across smooth areas.Amazingly, on one of the showcased computers, users were actually able to feel the contours of a virtual rabbit!

Hollis explained that the haptic device might also find application in military tests as the interface would convey the feeling of wind under the wings of unmanned military planes.

Interestingly, Hollis and his team had initially built the haptic device way back in 1997, but since then, they have managed to refine and lower its cost with the help of a National Sciebce Foundation grant.

“We’ve gone from the prototype to a much more advanced system that other researchers can use,” said Hollis.

Hollis has said that his researchers have built just 10 of these haptic devices, six of which will be sent to universities across the US and Canada. He also added that the new company is known as Butterfly Haptics. The device will be marketed in June or July 2008.

But, Hollis was quick to say that haptic devices are not entirely new, but he did state that such technology is becoming very sophisticated in recent years.

We all know about the PS3’s DualShock rumble controller which offers a mild sensation to players. Looks like these haptic devices if integrated into game controllers could perhaps take gaming to another ‘sensatuional’ level altogether!