Hardware be damned: The future of human computer interaction.
I’ve never been a proponent of touch screens. There’s not doubt now to their versatility, but I can’t but wonder if there should be something more. I believe that we have had to adapt ourselves too much to touch screens. A keyboard took less adapting but it had more limitations. On the surface it seems that touch screens are more natural due to their versatility, but it is their shear versatility trumping their usability.
Physical interaction is far more natural and engaging, though it has been limited in the past. This may no longer be the case soon, as technologies like virtual and augmented reality take hold.
Companies are fast developing hardware for haptic feedback. Haptic feedback creates physical feedback from a user experience. Many gamers are very excited for physical interactions within their game worlds. As such, many companies pushing haptic feedback are gaming related.
What if gaming is just a test bed? Think of the applications of haptic feedback outside of gaming. An additional layer of feedback and control will be added on to most every interaction with computers. Hardware for the sake of controlling technology may very well become a thing of the past.
Computer aided design is an area that will benefit largely from haptic feedback. Already we see companies working towards iron man level interactions with 3D space and objects. But add on a level of physical feedback from those controls and you create a far more compelling experience.
Having to wave our hands around in the air to create an input into a computer may be even less intuitive than a touch screen. Technologies like Kinect and Leap Motion have been interesting and innovative, but our true destiny lies in haptic feedback.
Surgeries are another area where haptic feedback can save costs. As of right now, there are machines out there being used for surgery that require extensive training to learn how to pilot. Haptic feedback coupled with AR and or VR creates the possibility for the controls of a machine to adapt to the user of that machine. If a surgeon wants a 25 degree rotation of their left hand to trigger an extension of a probe, we need not build an entirely new physical controller.
Haptic feedback means we no longer need to adapt ourselves to hardware. Instead we will have democratized computer interaction to a point where the price to design your own personal flavor or physical interaction with technology will be yours to have.
Will you create a floating mechanical keyboard, coupled by the tactile feel and sound of CherryMX switches? Whipping off a text to your mom while you walk down the street in your sleek AR glasses and haptic gloves? Will you let AI drive more of your interaction and design yourself a Harry Potter style wand to activate various objects and triggers in the world with a literal flick of the wrist? Will you design your own interaction scheme that to an outside observer looks like some sort of black magic? The possibilities for human computer interaction are limitless.
Hardware itself is soon to take on a totally different purpose. Haptic gloves and suits remove the need for any other hardware input for human hands. Already we are designing many apps out of existence by creating software and hardware that predicts our needs before we can even notice. Couple this with haptic feedback on the virtual level and there is little if any need for physical buttons anymore.
The implications for this are far reaching. From sleek new product designs impossible in the age before VR and AR, to more immersive technology driven experiences, haptic feedback is changing the way we interact with and use technology.
As I type this article on a tiny touchscreen due to the convenience of having a small device, I can’t help but be excited for the ability to whip a beautiful typewriter out of thin air. Imagine walking down the street and seeing multiple people, hands outstretched in front of them, obviously typing in what seems to be mid air. These people have a keyboard pulled up on their AR glasses and have haptic feedback in their thin gloves creating a reality for them of a floating keyboard. It’s easy to see a world where this is a norm, as its not such a far stretch from the furious bent over thumb tapping going on today.
Bring it on I say. I am excited to bring my work space with me, without the limitations of a 4" screen. Treadmill desks are rising in popularity, but the future is not on a treadmill. The future is an augmented reality and an immersive virtual world.
The capability of our workspace moving with us will change how out workspaces are designed and organized. Full immersion VR rigs will slowly take over many office cubicles. We can be far more efficient in our knowledge, engineering, and programming work with a full 360 degree manipulative 3D environment around us. if you thought dual monitors increased productivity, just wait and see where 360 degree immersion can take us.
For those offices that don’t invest in VR rigs for their employees, we will still see large changes. Augmented reality coupled with haptic feedback removes the needs for rows and rows of iMacs, or backpacks full of clunky laptops for taking to meetings. Instead we will be able to whip out a full length dry erase board mid conversation during lunch down the street.
At a certain point, relatively soon perhaps, the cost of a quality set of AR glasses and haptic feedback gloves for the purpose of office work will be more cost effective than buying a physical PC. More executive and managerial roles are likely to make the switch first. Many design and engineering roles are already utilizing VR and AR to manipulate 3D models, but the hardware requires for complex rendering may slow mainstream adoption.
We humans will adapt to whatever we find most efficient and convenient. Here I am tapping away with my thumbs on tiny flat buttons. Though I wish for haptic feedback I am still able to get by and type at an acceptable speed. I have adapted myself to this piece of technology because the benefits it provides are worth it. Soon though, technology will spend much more time and effort adapting itself to me.
Typing up articles on my iPhone is fun, but boy do I look forward to my future floating keyboard. Unconstrained by the rules of physics, I can whip out my keyboard while laying in bed, my haptic gloves creating the send of resistance mid air as if a keyboard is floating above my lap. I can type mid air as I walk to my next meeting, catching up on an email without losing myself staring downwards into a piece of glass. I can at any time bring up a “physical” EQ board while I listen to my music, adjusting knobs and sliders to get just the sound I want. Feeling the knobs turn, without purchasing a physical sound board.
Will there be room for entirely new operating systems in VR, or will the existing players adapt their inputs and outputs accordingly? Perhaps running more processes from the cloud. Will Apple and Microsoft foresee the future in AR and VR and begin focusing less on their current offerings and begin adapting? Or will a group of VR enthusiasts in a garage develop a simple yet satisfying way to manipulate the digital world more compellingly than a desktop PC?
The future is an exciting place, and it is far closer than many of us realize.
