Feeling the Future

I've been spending the last few days at the CHI 2006 conference, where the name of the game is computer-human interaction -- everything from how we use search engines to how DVRs affect TV viewing habits to designing input devices for people with motor impairments. (You can read my blog entries about CHI on sister site PC World here, here and here.)

One of the the great things about conferences like these (aside from treats like the free Creamsicles on Monday) is that you occasionally get the sense that you're witnessing the future. Case in point: last night, SIGCHI and SIGGRAPH's Montreal chapter jointly put on a presentation on tangible interfaces, which featured a fascinating look at recent research in haptics.

There's no way I can distill three hours of hardcore geekiness into one blog entry, but given my recent praise for all things e Ink, there was one highlight I feel compelled to relate, especially as it shows how abstract concepts can lead to amazing real-world uses. Vincent Hayward at McGill University demonstrated various ways to simulate different sensations on the human fingertip, creating the tactile equivalent of optical illusions. One such device uses an array of twelve tiny piezoelectric contacts to stimulate the fingertip in such a way that it fools you into thinking you're feeling tiny bumps.

Long story short: Virtual Braille -- essentially, an e-book for the blind. (We saw a photo of a working prototype, which was about the size of a thick PDA.) How cool is that?

Correction: It's since been pointed out to me that although this presentation was connected to the CHI 2006 conference (several of the presenters were also at CHI), the presentation was actually organized by Montreal SIGGRAPH.