Several days ago, at the IEEE-sponsored 2009 World Haptics Conference 2009, Phillips was supposed to present a study carried out using a haptic jacket!

Researches were up to describing the effects of touch on a movie viewers' emotional response to what the movie characters are experiencing. Practically, they would simulate the same tactile experience the character on the screen was expected to have, and measure if your emotional response lined up. The results seem to be positive - it works!

The jacket contains 64 independent actuators that stimulate the skin and provoke the sensation. If you think this is not enough to cover the whole upper body, check out what is cutaneous rabbit illusion and make a guess : even if, in some cases, two adjacent actuators are at 15cm (6 inch) distance, the jacket can make you feel the touch at any given point of your skin. The frequency of the vibration motors in the jacket is 100Hz, and the energy it needs to work is so low that 2 AA batteries seem to be enough for a whole movie.

The only drawback : it has a soft touch. Can't feel your ribs cracking. So, for now, emotion induction only. Is it not much already?

[ via IEEE Spectrum ]