The first thing that we often give children to hold is a stuffed animal so it makes sense that the first virtual object that you touch will be a teddy bear. At the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo, developers demonstrated a ring that uses vibrations to let you feel what you see on a screen. This augmented reality touchy-feely experience is the brainchild of Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Electro-communications. The cute and cuddly teddy bear the ring lets you interact with is known as a Virtual Creature (VC) and is as much of the focus of the research as the ring itself. Check out the videos after the break.

When we talk about haptics, the transfer of sensation from the digital world to the real world, we often discuss the next generation of human-computer interfaces. Future hardware and software could become more intuitive when you can actually feel what you are working with. However, haptics are also a key point of entry into full sensory virtual reality. Augmented reality, with its blend of digital and real-world images, is a sort of VR-lite and it’s a good testing ground for a haptics device. While not nearly complex enough to give you the sensation of being immersed in a virtual environment, the haptics ring is a good first step into that realm.

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