The next evolution of the Internet could involve the digital transmission of the sense of touch, which could transform remote surgery and usher in a whole new era of online gaming.
Researchers have developed a ‘Haptic Codecs for the Tactile Internet’ (HCTI) standard that allows haptic information to be sent in both directions over a network in data packets that are not excessively large or require large amounts of bandwidth. They outlined the details in an article published June 14 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standards Association.
Currently, sending tactile feedback over a remote connection (for example, when operating a robotic arm on site) requires data packets to be sent 4000 times per second in both directions. While this ensures that feedback is realistic and ensures robust data transmission, it places very high demands on the network transporting the data packets, according to the paper’s lead author. Eckhard Steinbachprofessor of media technology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), in a statement.
To overcome this, the HCTI standard uses compression and reduces the clock speed to 100 times per second, which Steinbach says is “close to the human perception threshold.”
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The HCTI standard optimizes the control loop between the transmitter and receiver and compresses information in a similar way to that used to transmit audio or image files over the Internet, but in a bi-directional format.
“The new codec is something like JPEG or MPEG, just for haptics,” Steinback said, adding: “In the case of JPEG, MP3 and MPEG, many applications emerged after the standards were made public. I expect the same from our new haptics codecs.”
Touch transmission
Codecs compress information sent over the Internet by removing data beyond human perception. In JPEG and MP3 files, this means removing visual and audio elements that people are unlikely to notice. This results in the loss of high fidelity, for example in colors or high frequency sounds, but provides a much smaller, easily transmitted data packet.
But that process is normally a one-way transmission. Because haptic feedback requires two-way communication and high reliability to be effective remotely, high-bandwidth, low-latency connections are required. This is not a major problem when operating robots on location, but operating them remotely brings challenges.
Although information is transmitted at the speed of light over fiber optic networks, it still travels at a maximum of 300 kilometers in one millisecond (ms). In terms of pure transmission time, this means that a haptic data packet takes 30 ms to travel from Germany to Japan – not counting any delays in transmission caused by the receiving device. This is not fast enough for effective tactile feedback at a distance, the scientists said in the statement.
But by compressing the data packet size while still transferring enough information for the haptics to be effective, tactile feedback can be sent without a delay noticeable to humans. The only downside, the researchers add, is that the forces exerted by a robot are somewhat dampened when fed back to a controller – meaning hard surfaces, for example, can feel softer.
The HCTI standard could have a variety of future applications, especially in medicine, the scientists said. In particular, it could be used in telesurgery, where a robot in the operating room could be controlled remotely by an expert surgeon on another continent. A doctor could also remotely perform an ultrasound scan of a patient in an ambulance, speeding up the assistance process.
Haptic feedback could also improve the gaming and entertainment experience, with more realistic feedback when gaming online or in so-called ‘4D cinemas’. For example, it could convey the physical feeling of a handshake between two players. This could also be applied to the best virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets for better immersion.
