FRIDAY, 6 DECEMBER 2019
UK
‘Smart skin’ makes virtual touch a reality
Should touch become
digital? A new, thin,
wireless skin could allow us
to reach through a screen
and touch what is on the
other side. Are we living in a
dream or a nightmare?
New era: Current VR touch controllers are clunky and not very portable. © Go Touch VR
You are watching a music video from one of
the world’s biggest stars. During the chorus,
they reach out towards the screen. You do too
and, for a moment, you feel your fingertips
brush theirs.
You are travelling on the other side of
the world. Your parents video call you to say
hello. When you pick up, you feel their warm
arms wrap around you.
“Human touch is probably the deepest,
most significant emotional connection that
you can establish with a loved one or
friends,” says Josh Rogers, an American
professor at Northwestern University who
studies haptics.
In a paper published on Wednesday in
the science journal Nature, Rogers and his
colleagues revealed they have built a battery-
free, wireless smart skin that could break
down the last barrier of on-screen
communication: touch. Powered by tiny,
vibrating cogs, the smart skin is paper-thin,
soft material that contours the human body.
Its potential uses range from the fairly
mundane (allowing businesspeople to shake
hands in online meetings) to the life-
transforming (restoring full bodily sensation
for amputees). Rogers and his team insist it
will transform the way we consume digital
entertainment, like video games and films.
“You can deploy multiple devices at
different areas of interest across the body,
and you can control all of them wirelessly and
simultaneously,” Rogers added. The skin
uses existing e-dermis technology to mimic
nerve endings. It can even sense
temperature.
In another demonstration of its medical
uses, the skin is currently being tested on
stroke victims at danger of choking on their
food. The vibrations trigger swallowing so as
not to disrupt breathing.
Last year, The Guardian declared that
we are living through “a crisis of touch”. Most
of us rarely exchange physical contact with
someone outside of our immediate family or
an intimate relationship.
But for millions of years, skin-to-skin
contact has provided our most fundamental,
universal communication. It is the first sense
THEDAY.CO.
to develop in the womb. Even an embryo just
1.5cm in length can, to some extent, feel
through its tiny network of nerve endings.
Is it time for touch to go digital?
Magic touch?
Absolutely, say some. The internet has
allowed us to break down the vast distances
that separate us from one another, but the
barrier of touch has remained. Until now. It is
the ultimate step for liberating human
communication from physical bonds. And
that’s without considering the technology’s
myriad medical uses, which could improve
quality of life for millions.
Not so fast, respond others. There is
something grounded, physical and organic
about human touch that computers will never
be able to replicate. When you touch or hold
a loved one, you are rooting your bodies and
selves in a real, joined experience. We must
not corrupt human touch by disconnecting it
from reality. It is just another step towards
absolute isolation from one another.
 YOU DECIDE
1. Would you use a smart skin?
2. Are we living through a “crisis of
touch”?
Q & A
Q: What do we know?
A: New smart skins that can artificially
stimulate the sense of touch are currently
being tested on stroke patients. The
technology was unveiled by its creators at
Northwestern University in the USA in the
journal Nature last week. The skin is made of
a thin, soft material dotted with tiny vibrating
wheels that can mimic nerve endings.
Q: What do we not know?
A: It‘s tricky for scientists to pin down exactly
how our bodies experience touch. Far from
being a single sense, there are different
nerve endings that recognise itch, others
vibration, pain, pressure and texture. One
exists solely to recognise a gentle stroking
touch.
ACTIVITIES SOME PEOPLE SAY...
1. In one minute, write as many words as “Touch has a memory.”
you can that you associate with the
word “touch”. John Keats (1795-1821), English poet
2. Write a one-page story set in a future What do you think?
where touch has been almost
completely digitised.
WORD WATCH BECOME AN EXPERT
Haptics – The science of touch. Read this article on theday.co.uk for links to
recommended videos and further reading.
Contours – An outline that wraps around the
shape of an object.
Mundane – Lacking excitement; boring and
everyday.
Amputees – People who have had a body
part removed due to injury or illness.
E-dermis – The e-dermis was first used to
bring a sense of touch and pain to users of
prosthetic hands in June 2018.
1.5cm in length – As cited in The Guardian
link in Become An Expert.
Myriad – Extremely great number of people
or things.
Battery-free; wireless – Unlike existing
technology, which usually has bulky sensors
and extensive wires, the new skin is small
and portable.