Descripción del proyecto
Acabar con el ansia de contacto físico
Las medidas de distanciamiento social introducidas para restringir la propagación del coronavirus y ayudar a detener la pandemia de COVID-19 nos han hecho ver la importancia del contacto físico interpersonal, del que no se puede disfrutar en este momento, para nuestro bienestar general. Aunque existen muchas tecnologías hápticas avanzadas, no pueden sustituir a la interacción táctil que permite vincular la sensación física del cariño a través de la estimulación de los receptores de la piel durante el contacto físico. El proyecto TOUCHLESS, financiado con fondos europeos, tiene por objeto superar ese reto desarrollando una tecnología háptica sin contacto de nueva generación. Construirá modelos neurocognitivos y un novedoso marco de inteligencia artificial para permitir la inducción digital sin contacto de la sensación del contacto físico a través de la respuesta del receptor. También permitirá disfrutar de una experiencia reconfortante, afectiva, social y cognitiva.
Objetivo
Our society is experiencing an increasing lack of social tactile interactions, due in part to increased virtualisation and the growth of digital networks, and recently magnified by social distancing measures. Sadly, many people now feel like the society described in the 1990s science fiction movie Demolition Man, where physical contact was prevented and heavily sanctioned. The increased virtualisation of our social interactions feeds our hunger for touch, the lack of which can lead to profoundly negative consequences. Interpersonal touch grounds social relations between people, with distinct patterns of tactile interaction between parent-infant dyads, adult life-partners, friends, teachers and professional colleagues and acquaintances.
Although touch is vital for how we feel and interact with our environments and is foundational for our emotional well-being, most haptic technologies have focused on functional aspects. All major haptics companies use touch to help users improve task completion, discriminate among shapes or textures, and grasp virtual objects. In contrast, social touch typically involves the stimulation of non-glabrous (hairy) parts of the skin while also affecting nociceptors (pain) and thermoreceptors (temperature). These C-tactile (CT) afferents underpin the experience of affective touch, and the pleasant sensations associated with social interactions such as caresses. Thus, current technology neither satisfy our need for touch, nor draw on recent progress in understanding social touch.
Our ambition is to go beyond functional haptic technology and enable computer systems to intelligently create the experiences lost in the virtual transition. Those experiences include agency, bonding, and attachment.
We will develop the next generation of touchless haptic technologies using neurocognitive models and a novel artificial intelligence (AI) framework. Without having physical contact, users will receive affective, social and cognitive touch sensations.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-FETPROACT-2020-2
Régimen de financiación
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinador
WC1E 6BT London
Reino Unido