Immersive Touching

Immersive Touch is an augmented reality immersive system developed by Cristian J. Luciano, Greg Dawe, Pat Banerjee, and Lucian Florea at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Electronic Visualization Lab. It is among the first systems to integrate a haptic device with a head and hand tracking system and high resolution display. This makes it possible to maintain an overlap between the image and position of a haptic device. As you can see in the embedded video, users get a more realistic and natural way to interact in 3D objects in real time. This can be of great value as a way of training surgeons and other professionals who might well benefit from a little practice on a high-risk procedure. Imagine how Croquet could add a dimension of collaboration to such simulations....