We are one step closer to being able to ‘touch’ something in the virtual world. While our minds can be fooled when it comes to vision, our sense of touch is much more subtle and sensitive.
Haptic technology is designed to trick our skin into thinking that what we're touching in the virtual world is real. It has been used in the gaming industry for years to enhance a player's experience, but the mechanical sensation isn't particularly realistic and is often delayed.
The introduction of 5G, however, will enable us to make haptics mainstream – because it's the first time that the network will work faster than our minds. Its high speed and low latency will also mean that we can use haptic communication for other applications, such as in surgery, transportation and manufacturing.
To put this into practice, Ericsson is collaborating with ABB – an industrial digitalization specialist – to determine how haptic communication could work in an industrial setting, exploring the concept of realistic robot remote control with haptic feedback.
More cases using 5G for haptic feedback
In this particular proof of concept and demo used at industry events, we looked at how users can steer and 'feel' objects at remote locations via sensors fed with low latency – and the applications we will be able to create with this kind of setup. This project is a collaboration between Ericsson and The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
5G copters windfarm
Here, Ericsson's Master Researcher, Cristian Norlin, explains how a combination of low latency, high video throughput and IoT work through a haptic remote device. The 5G copter is a prototype system for semi-autonomous, remote flying, enabling users to move and interact with the copter's environment.