Getting in touch with our haptic senseGetting in touch with our haptic sense
All In The Mind
Do you prefer ‘vibrate on’ or ‘vibrate off’? Well, either way—heads up, as we explore the world of haptics. To get the best information from whatever you choose to touch, haptic sensing involves a lot of neural effort. We'll hear about how this sensing has been examined in the past, as well as some speculation on where haptics might go in the future.
28:52•14 Jul 2019
Getting to Grips with Haptics: How Touch, Tech and the Brain Connect
Episode Overview
- Haptics involves active touch plus movement, giving richer information than passive contact with the skin.
- The brain fuses signals about texture, temperature and weight, which can sometimes lead to haptic illusions.
- Early technologies like the teletactor and vibratees tried to route speech and language through patterns of vibration on the skin.
- Modern haptic research supports remote robotic work, advanced prosthetics and tools for people with visual impairment.
- Creating durable electronic skin with sensor arrays that match the robustness of human hands remains a major engineering challenge.
“It’s really hard to manipulate something that you can’t feel.”
Curious about how others make sense of touch in a high‑tech age? This episode of All In The Mind takes you straight into the surprising complexity of your haptic sense – the blend of touch and movement that kicks in whenever you actively reach out and feel something.
You’ll hear Dr Lynette Jones from MIT explain the difference between passive touch, like resting your hand on a table, and active haptic sensing, where you move your fingers to pick up texture, temperature and weight. She unpacks why cold objects can feel heavier than warm ones and how our expectations can trick us into haptic illusions. Her reminder that “it’s really hard to manipulate something that you can’t feel” sums up the whole challenge of touch-free technology.
Associate Professor David Parisi adds a historical and human angle, from his sister’s spinal injury to early experiments like the “teletactor” and “vibratees” – systems that tried to route speech and language through the skin using patterns of vibration. He traces how these ideas fed into modern haptic devices, from rumbling game controllers to ambitious military and space tools for remote manipulation.
The conversation ranges across robotics, prosthetics and virtual reality, asking how machines might ever truly "feel" and how engineers are trying to build electronic skin that’s as tough and versatile as our own. You’ll also get a taste of what a Haptics 101 course looks like, with students dipping into neuroscience, mechanical engineering, computer science and design to build touch displays that actually make sense to the humans using them.
By the end, you might look at your phone’s vibration, your gaming controller, or even a simple handshake in a different way and ask yourself: how much of your daily life depends on touches you barely notice?
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