Researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Electro-Communications may have created the cutest AR creature to date. In the last SIGGRAPH conference they have presented the following poster, discussing a haptic ring that let you pet virtual creatures (VC) and enable virtual creatures touch you.
We installed models of optical / touch sensation into our VCs. It
enables VCs to react for user’s actions to VCs in various and appropriate
ways. For example, they express attention by looking back
when they are hit from backward. They express happiness when
they are stroked gently, and they step away after a strong hit.
(if embedding does not work for you, video is here)
More details can be found here. Via Development Memo for Ourselves.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Haptic AR, Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology |
Games Alfresco 
That isnt a bad idea at all actualy.
Should be cheap to mass produce too.
The inability to touch augmented surfaces wont stop the technologys adoption, but it will indeed be something badly missed when we replace something physical with something virtual.
Any sort of way to replace that will be great. Even if we can never accurately reproduce the resistance of the physical, a slight stimulation goes a long way into tricking our brains somethings really their.
Gloves that use a similar technology would be especially useful when working with virtual environments. I imagine it’s going to be like pressing against very non-resistant foam…
There is company’s that make high-end haptic gloves;
http://www.cyberglovesystems.com/products/hardware/cybertouch.php
Check out their cybergrasp and force systems too.
Basicaly, depending how much your willing to pay, and how much you want to attach to your arm, you can simulate just about anything :P