Affective Haptic Technologies Workshop

How can we improve affective haptic technologies?
Dispelling myths and forwarding the next generation of affective haptics

In this half day workshop, participants will take a deep dive into state-of-the-art affective haptic technologies. The program will begin with a short introduction to social affective touch and the role that touch technologies may play in everything from virtual gaming, the metaverse and telemedicine. As tactile experiences intersect with technology, understanding this connection is vital. Bringing together perspectives from engineering, electrophysiology, computer science, and cognitive neuroscience, our workshop will facilitate a much needed discussion of how we want to include affective touch in the digital age, based on solid scientific understanding. This interdisciplinary workshop will allow participants to experience first hand what these haptic technologies feel like and to probe both their potential uses, but also their limitations. This will be complemented by short talks from a wide range of experts in the field to provide insights into not just the mechanical aspects of digital touch, but also multisensory and cognitive contributions of “how it feels”. Through interactive exchange between participants and speakers and a mix of talks, demonstrations, and panel discussion, we expect lively discussions as to the true potential of these touch technologies and how they can be best tailored to the individual and the context.