December 14, 2005
Remote Touch
Touching over a Network
Remote Touch--by Myra Einstein and Demetrie Tyler--is also part of the ITP Winter Show 2005. In attempting to send the sense of touch over a network, 2 devices made up of a grid of "touch pixels" will be used. When one device is pressed, the force is applied to the connected device in addition to itself. When the second device is pressed back, the net forces are applied to both. This gives the feeling that you are pressing against someone through a network. Two cameras will be set up so that the user can view what the person on the other side is doing.
When a user pushes on the touch grid, each touch pixel on their own grid will move down according to the force applied and the corresponding touch pixels on the second user's grid will move up. When the second user pushes on their touch grid, each touch pixel on the first user's grid will move up. When both users are pressing on the touch grid, the net force is applied to each touch pixel, ie the touch pixels of the grid of person who's pressing harder will move down and the touch pixels of the other user will move up.
Posted by jo at December 14, 2005 11:29 AM
