Giving Technology the Human Touch- Skin Integrated Haptic Interfaces for (Epidermal) VR

AR and VR technologies already exploit the auditory and visual senses very effectively but one could argue that one sense yet to be fully employed in the immersive experiences simulated using these technologies is that of touch. There are controller options available that offer some sense of haptic feedback but this is not nearly as developed as other elements of the technology. Towards the end of last year, an article was published in Nature on a group of scientists’ new development of a wireless skin-integrated system that gives VR experience a more realistic sense of touch. The technology consists of tiny vibrating components (actuators) that are embedded in a material that molds to the curved surfaces of your skin. Called Epidermal VR, the examples that a recent news article uses to explore the potential uses of this technology includes the idea that you will be able to feel a hug on the other side of a video call in future as you touch a screen and in the use of prosthetics to evoke varying senses of touch e.g. someone wearing a prosthetic with the material might be able to sense a soft touch vs one that is more firm. I imagine a technology like this could add to the amount of presence experienced by users in the VR world. Suddenly the idea of a virtual field trip where one could receive tactile feedback as you explore the environment around you seems very appealing and even more immersive e.g. reaching out to touch a rock of the simulated Mars surface in Google’s AccessMars VR experience. The more senses can be involved in a true and realistic way in any experience, the more lived the experience becomes and potentially create greater learning opportunities.