HAPTICS: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS

Mandayam A. Srinivasan, Ph.D.
Director, The Touch Lab
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://touchlab.mit.edu

Abstract
The human haptic system with its tactile, kinesthetic, and motor capabilities together with the associated cognitive processes, presents a uniquely bi-directional information channel between our hands and brains, but is underutilized. Recent development of haptic technologies that enable a user to touch, feel, and manipulate virtual or remote objects, show promise in myriad applications such as education, entertainment, training, communication, healthcare, hazardous operations, design, manufacturing and marketing.

In this talk, I will describe the scientific and technological underpinnings of the emerging field of Haptics. I will give a brief overview of our recent advances in skin biomechanics, tactile neuroscience, human haptic perception, robotic hardware and real-time simulation software, all of which have helped establish Haptics as an exciting area of research. I will also cover our contributions to its applications such as virtual reality based simulators for training surgeons, real-time touch interactions between people across the internet and direct control of machines from brain neural signals.

Thursday, April 17th
337 Towne Bldg.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.