Haptic object identification

The study of touch has interested psychologists and neuroscientists for a long time but interestingly, the world of touch is flourishing nowadays. Important developments are taking place in psychology of touch, neurosciences, virtual reality and robotics. Today, haptics is more than ever a multidisciplinary field as well as a world research effort. In 2005, after a number of interesting and successful conferences organised independently in the United States and Europe, the First World Haptics Conference took place in Pisa (Italy). The Second world Haptics Conference was celebrated in Tsukuba (Japan) in 2007. The papers presented at World Haptics cover three main areas; the Science of Haptic Perception, the Technology of Haptic Interfaces, and the Applications of Haptic Interfaces and Teleoperation Systems. The great success of these international worldwide scientific meetings made us feel that the world of touch is more vibrant than ever.