Last fall, the company released software that app makers can use to let you feel things like explosions or the whirring of helicopter blades when you hold a smartphone.
Immersion has also developed a way to fool fingers sliding over a touch screen into feeling textures that aren’t really there.
Those changing sensations were made by using a special conductive layer on the device’s touch screen to alter the electrostatic attraction between my finger and the screen, creating a sense of friction. Some companies, such as Tangible Haptics, an early-stage startup, are already building products using the electrostatic technology. They think the trick can be used to help drivers use in-car displays without taking their eyes off the road.
Another startup, Tactical Haptics, is working on technology to bring physical realism to the experience of using a virtual reality headset such as the Oculus Rift.
Sliding plates in the handle of the controller exert forces on your hands to mimic the sensation of interacting with real objects.
...significant challenges. One is to minimize latency—the time lag between touching something and feeling a response. The human nervous system is sensitive enough that even a delay of milliseconds can feel too slow, says Vincent Hayward, a professor studying haptics at Paris-based Université Pierre et Marie Curie’s Institute for Intelligent Systems and Robotics.
...without proof that people really want better physical feedback, gadget makers are loath to invest in it.
See the full story here; http://www.technologyreview.com/news/535121/gadgets-are-getting-better-at-fooling-your-sense-of-touch/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150223