Project description
The future of feeling through haptic science
Touch is one of our most powerful senses. It helps us navigate, connect, and feel grounded in the world. But what if technology could reshape how we experience touch itself? Scientists are exploring ways to recreate tactile sensation through wearable devices that stimulate the skin with vibrations, pressure and warmth. The challenge is to make these artificial sensations feel natural and precise. In this context, the ERC-funded SuperTouch project aims to model how multiple sensory signals combine in the fingertips. Specifically, it will try to reproduce real tactile experiences and even replace natural sensations with controlled artificial ones. Using advanced haptic devices and machine learning, SuperTouch could one day make virtual textures indistinguishable from the real thing.
Objective
Imagine running your fingers over a hard, rough, cool brick wall yet feeling a soft, smooth, warm surface like fur. Recent advancements in wearable haptic technologies are opening new possibilities for augmenting natural fingertip sensations with artificial tactile feedback. However, systematically overlaying surfaces—each evoking distinct sensations like roughness, softness, or warmth through stimulating the skin with a combination of vibration, pressure, and temperature signals—with artificial sensations remains a significant challenge. This complexity stems from our limited understanding of synthesizing multisensory tactile experiences with specific perceptual attributes and superimposing these artificial sensations with natural ones perceived at the fingertip during active exploration.
In SuperTouch, I aim to understand how to replace the tactile feel of any surface experienced through bare fingertips with new, desired sensations across the full spectrum of perceptual dimensions. I will achieve this goal through a model-based approach by applying precisely modeled multisensory stimuli—vibration, temperature, and pressure—to the finger phalanx. I will begin by identifying perceptually relevant tactile features from the finger-surface interaction data in my lab's recent database. These features will be the foundation for synthesizing artificial stimuli, rendered using the multisensory haptic surface and ring newly developed in my lab. By conducting psychophysical experiments and employing interpretable machine learning techniques, I will mathematically model a) the relationship between tactile features and the resulting sensory experiences and b) the integration of stimuli across multiple contact points, allowing for the precise generation of sensations.
SuperTouch will pioneer a new frontier in haptics by introducing the first universal model-based superimposition approach for multisensory cutaneous sensations, advancing the science of touch.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering signal processing
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors smart sensors
- natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology computational neuroscience
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence machine learning
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2628 CN Delft
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.