Why Haptics?

Haptics Technology What is haptics?

In the etymological sense, haptics is Greek meaning “science of touch”. In reality, our brains rely on our touch and senses in discerning information. Scientifically it works like this: our fingers are equipped with mechanoreceptors that deal primarily with our sense of touch. These then send signals to a primary sensory cortex in our brain, where information is processed. In layman’s terms, this is the simple kinesthetic movement of changing gears on a car, doing octaves on a piano, or strumming a guitar. Based on this touch, our brains immediately process the information and allow us to conclude what has been achieved.

In today’s fast-paced highly-technological world, this simple concept is often missing. While all of today’s technological gadgets may contain all the necessary bells and whistles, they often deal with nothing more than visual cues and auditory signals. We hear our phones ringing, we see our computer screens flickering – but there is just not enough interactivity that utilizes our sense of touch. Just the simple method of using an on-screen calculator is inconvenient for us. Clicking on the numbers on-screen using a mouse is just not the same as manually typing in the digits. This is because our brain relies on our touch-sense to process data more quickly.

Relevant study is now going into haptic technology. Manufacturers are starting to focus on this concept in designing their devices. You see this with the vibrate mode in our game consoles. The simple feature of vibration tells our brain that something exciting is going on. A seemingly simple add-on, but it definitely goes a long way. Haptic technology is certainly something we can look forward to in future consumer tech goods.