Among the other technologies that will emerge as viable computer input devices, we expect to see eye-tracking software, realistic force-feedback technology, voice commands, and everyone’s favorite, Minority Report-style gesture recognition.

On one computer, users could “feel” the contours of a virtual rabbit.

Do users “feel” the contours of a virtual rabbit, or do they just feel them? Do we “read” text on the internet, or just read it? When we watch a movie do we “see” the actors? Harumph.

The article is about Butterfly Haptics, which is a haptic interface based on magnetic levitation. I “felt” it at SIGGRAPH ’08, and it was extraordinarily crisp and strong. The only problem is that the workspace (range of motion) is tiny compared to other haptic interfaces, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear development path for expanding the workspace using magnetic technology. Nevertheless, it’s great to be able to add magnetic field actuation to the relatively limited number of technologies that can be used for haptic display.

Also, H3DAPI 2.0 beta was released yesterday:

Built on the industry standards OpenGL and X3D, H3DAPI enables rapid haptics application development using X3D and Python alone. More major projects have been developed by extending H3DAPI capabilities with C++.

The improved H3DAPI 2.0 beta now uses SenseGraphics’ own haptics API (HAPI), which grants users more freedom and control in haptics rendering. Users could now choose from more haptics renderers, including SensAble’s OpenHaptics, Chai3D, and H3D point and sphere-based renderers. Its modular design meant that users of the open source H3DAPI could easily extend the platform, whether it is adding their own rendering algorithms, force effects, or haptic surfaces. The latest version of H3DAPI also comes with more device support, including the range of haptic devices by SensAble, ForceDimension, Novint and MOOG FCS.

I like this idea. Since light, inexpensive, portable force-reflecting handheld interfaces are a long way off, why not couple physical objects with virtual vision technology to touch virtual objects? Moreover, using ocular displays, I could imagine a similar system for changing the appearance of our robotic companions on the fly, forgoing the need, for instance, to mechanize their facial expressions.

(via Gizmodo, Pink Tentacle, Robot Watch)