Last week, the haptic community gathered in Delft, Netherlands, to celebrate the 10th edition of IEEE World Haptics. This highly anticipated conference encompassed all aspects of haptics, ranging from technological innovations and algorithms to applications and fundamental scientific discoveries. Attendees were immersed in a four-day event that unveiled the latest wave of news and innovations that will shape the future of haptics.
The conference was attended by renowned researchers, companies, influential industry figures and newcomers, making it the year's highlight for haptics. Among the esteemed attendees was Actronika, a Paris-based start-up represented by two talented team members and Ph.D. students, Aruna Ramasamy and Yerkebulan Massalim. As ambassadors of Actronika's vision, they contributed to the conference with research conducted in collaboration with their advisors: Damien Faux and Vincent Hayward.
Aruna Ramasamy presented the work entitled "Concurrent Haptic, Audio, and Visual Dataset during Bare-Finger Interaction with Textures" in collaboration with Alexis Devillard, Etienne Burdet, and her advisors. This research delved into how our senses shape our perception of the world. Through advanced analysis of visual, auditory, and tactile cues, the study highlighted the multimodality of texture perception. This discovery brings us closer to unraveling the intricate workings of our senses and how they interact harmoniously.
She also captivated the audience on the conference's final day with an innovative audio-to-haptics conversion demo. This impressive demonstration illustrated how any musical track can be converted into congruent haptic effects, enhancing the user's immersion by accentuating the beats of the music.
Meanwhile, Yerkebulan Massalim focused on reproducing realistic tactile sensations and presented a poster and demo centered around a distributed tactile display. This groundbreaking technology can produce authentic tactile sensations in various domains, including virtual reality (VR) and human-machine interface (HMI) applications. The research advances our understanding of texture perception and paves the way for remarkable advancements in haptic experiences.
Amidst the plethora of groundbreaking innovations presented at the conference, the haptic community also took a moment to honor the memory of Vincent Hayward. A remarkable person, friend, mentor, and pioneer in the field, Vincent left an indelible impact on haptics, leaving a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for future generations. It was a great privilege to honor and present knowledge built in collaboration with the godfather of haptics and CSO of Actronika.
Once again, the IEEE World Haptics conference proved to be an immensely gratifying experience, allowing the academic community, industry experts, and affiliated specialists to come together, share knowledge, exchange ideas, and collaborate in propelling the field of haptics forward.