Two weeks ago, Amin, Patrick, and I were at the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery conference in downtown Toronto. Hearing Steve Wozniak talk about his relationship with the "other Steve" and seeing many cutting edge research projects underway made the two days zip by.
We were demoing the HD^2 High Definition Haptic Device at our booth. I get a huge thrill out of seeing people try the HD^2 out for the first time. Their reactions are amazing! You get those who squirm as they try out virtual needle insertion or those who jump right into the technical side, playing around with the controller of the rehab device demo.
The HD2 is like the manna of haptic devices. You can get it to produce a huge array of surfaces - squishy tissue, hard rubber, thick and viscous fluids, bones. Of course, this is like me telling you how something tastes. Your best bet is to try the device out yourself some time when you meet us at a show like OCE or if you're ever close to Markham, Ontario.
Some videos of the demos we showed:
