Projects in VR

aptic, from the Greek word haptesthai, means relat- ing to or based on the sense of touch. Haptic is to touching as visual is to seeing and auditory is to hear- ing. The sense of touch is one of the most important sensory channels. The human tactile system provides a unique and bidirectional communication between humans and their physical environment. We can divide the tactile system into cutaneous, kinesthetic, and hap- tic systems, based on the underlying neural inputs. The cutaneous system employs receptors embedded in the skin, while the kinesthetic system uses receptors locat- ed in muscles, tendons, and joints. The haptic sensory system uses cutaneous and kinesthetic receptors, but it differs from the other systems because it's associated with an active exploration of the surroundings. To date, most human-computer interactive systems focus primarily on the graphical rendering of visual information and, to a lesser extent, on the display of auditory information. Haptic interfaces have the poten- tial to increase the quality of human-computer interac- tion by accommodating the sense of touch. They provide an attractive augmentation to visual display and enhance the level of understanding of complex data sets. In addition, researchers have effectively used haptic interfaces for a number of applications including mole- cular docking, manipulation of nanomaterials, surgical training, virtual prototyping, and digital sculpting.