A podcast, live events, and insights about haptics

Unveiling The Haptics Club's Top 4 Most Listened-To Episodes

Touch and art may not commonly be associated, and neither are engineering and art, but these are precisely the topics that fuel my passion when creating my pieces. My interest in touch was sparked by a profound moment when I watched a video of visually-impaired children experiencing classical marble sculptures in a tactile museum in Greece. Their embodied encounter with the cold and chiselled torsos created a deeply sensuous experience that seemed absent in much of contemporary art. This sparked my curiosity to explore the effects of physical contact with different materials and structures at a sensory level. My research then delved into interpersonal connections, taboos, and emotional transferability through lifeless material. I experimented with (digital or simulated) touch, using the act of touch as a catalyst for introspection and transformation. Through my art, I aim to prompt audiences to reconsider touch as a forgotten aspect of art and a powerful means of communication, which has not been adequately considered as a valid sense for aesthetic experience compared, for example, to audio-visual input.

The "interACTIVE HAPTICS Conference (IAHC)" took place on June 14th and 15th in the beautiful city of Hamburg. Over 100 individuals from the haptic industry, including researchers, gathered for a two-day conference organized by Grewus GmbH. The event aimed to foster a detailed exchange of the latest haptic technologies and trends. Attendees represented various technical backgrounds, such as component manufacturers, system integrators, and OEMs. The industries present were evenly distributed among consumer electronics, automotive, and professional entertainment. The conference also welcomed research institutions and enablers, creating a diverse mix of interests. This gathering highlighted two key points: haptic technology is a relevant and impactful aspect of customer experience across multiple domains, and there is still much to learn and align on in this field.

An incoming email used to be a brash shout – "You've Got Mail". These days, it's a soft chime, or more likely a simple buzz on our phone. Great deals of effort go into the vibrations of notifications. Designers try to find ways to communicate content, context, urgency, and much more into a simple set of pulses and vibes. But only so much information can easily fit into a haptic pattern – at a certain point you're just recreating morse code. So how do we create a good vibrotactile language? How do we create intuitive, interpretable messaging that can be understood through the low bandwidth of our skin?