Proposal for Establishing a Technical Committee on Haptics Prepared by Hong Z. Tan, Matthias Harders, and Hiroyuki Kajimoto (Aug. 2007) 0. Background The Task Force (TF) on Haptics under the IEEE Computer Society was established in November 2006. In October 2006, a Technical Committee (TC) on Haptics was approved by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. Since then, the TF/TC on Haptics has become a home for the international haptics research community, coordinating numerous activities and initiatives. The purpose of this proposal is to develop the TF on Haptics into a TC on Haptics in the IEEE Computer Society. 1. Motivation Since the first International Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems (Haptics Symposium) in 1992, the international haptics research community has enjoyed a healthy and steady growth. There are now three major international conferences dedicated to haptics research: Haptics Symposium, EuroHaptics, and World Haptics Conference, as well as many other regularly-held small-scale meetings. The number of presentations has grown from 9 papers presented at the first Haptics Symposium in 1992 to 55 oral presentations, 41 posters and 3 sketches with a total attendance of 269 people at the Second World Haptics Conference in March 2007. In the meanwhile, the number of publications worldwide that mention “haptics” in the title has grown from less than a 100 in 1992 to over 1,600 in 2005. The establishment of the TF on Haptics in 2006 has propelled the growth of the international haptics research community even further. The establishment of a long-term TC on Haptics will allow us to capitalize on the momentum generated by the TF on Haptics to further service the needs of hapticians worldwide. Scope of TC on Haptics: Haptics research has permeated many disciplines and application areas. Earliest efforts focused on sensory substitution: stimulating the sense of touch to convey imagery or speech for individuals with visual and/or auditory impairments. With the advent of force-feedback devices, there have been renewed interests in using haptic interfaces in teleoperator systems and virtual environments. The successful deployment of haptic interfaces requires continuing advances in hardware design, control, software algorithms, as well as our understanding of the human somatosensory system. Priority areas include, but are by no means limited to: 1) Devices & technology 2) Tactile display and tactile sensing 3) Haptic rendering 4) Perception & psychophysics 5) Neuroscience 6) Haptic cognition 7) Multimodal perception 8) Sensory guided motor control 9) Haptic Communication 10) Applications in entertainment, medicine, rehabilitation, education, data perceptualization, art, rapid prototyping, remote collaboration, etc. 2. Names of individuals involved in the TC Executive Committee The following individuals have been serving on the Executive Committee of the TF on Haptics, and will continue to lead the new TC on Haptics. CHAIR: Hong Z. Tan (Purdue University, USA) CO-CHAIR: Matthias Harders (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) CO-CHAIR: Hiroyuki Kajimoto (University of Electro-Communications, Japan) APPOINTED OFFICERS: Vice Chair for Conference: Gunter Niemeyer (Stanford University, USA) Vice Chair for Finance: Allison Okamura (Johns Hopkins University, USA) Vice Chair for Information Dissemination: Antonio Frisoli (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy) Vice Chair for Publication: Karon MacLean (University of British Columbia, Canada) Vice Chair for Special issues on haptics: Domenico Prattichizzo (University of Siena, Italy) Secretary: Anatole Lecuyer (INRIA, France) SENIOR ADVISORS: Massimo Bergamasco (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy) Antonio Bicchi (University of Pisa, Italy) Martin Buss (Technical University of Munich, Germany) J. Edward Colgate (Northwestern University, USA) Blake Hannaford (University of Washington, USA) William Harwin (University of Reading, UK) Robert D. Howe (Harvard University, USA) Hiroo Iwata (University of Tsukuba, Japan) Roland Johansson (Umea University, Sweden) Roberta L. Klatzky (Carnegie Mellon, USA) Susan J. Lederman (Queen’s University, Canada) Ming Lin (University of North Carolina, USA) Dinesh K. Pai (Rutgers University, University of British Columbia) Makoto Sato (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan) Mandayam A. Srinivasan (MIT, USA) Janet Weisenberger (Ohio State University) 3. Accomplishments of the TF on Haptics 3.1 Webpage and Logo Creation A website for the Task Force on Haptics under Computer Society and the Technical Committee on Haptics under Robotics and Automation Society was launched in March 2007, in time for the second World Haptics Conference held in Tsukuba, Japan. The website serves as the focal point for information dissemination, member recruitment and community-wide activities such as the EIC search for the new IEEE Transactions on Haptics. A logo was also created. The URL is www.worldhaptics.org 3.2 Membership Recruitment Membership recruitment was officially launched at the World Haptics Conference in Japan in March 2007. Anyone wishing to join the TF/TC Haptics is invited to sign up via the webpage. As of August 27, we have 262 members from all around the world. 3.3 Communications with Membership Communications with the TF/TC Haptics members include a welcome letter by the Chair and Co-Chairs, and announcements of the Haptics Symposium 2008, the EIC search for the new haptics journal (see 3.4), and new TF Haptics funding initiatives (see 3.11). Motivation, scope and overview of the IEEE TF/TC Haptics have been summarized in a printed and electronic letter which was distributed to the members as well as attendees of related conferences. In addition, a letter from the Chairs was published in the Proceedings of the Second World Haptics Conference. 3.4 New Journal The TF/TC Haptics worked with IEEE and members of the haptics community during the planning and launching of the new IEEE Transactions on Haptics (ToH). The Computer Society has a 45% financial sponsorship in the new journal, along with Robotics and Automation Society (45%) and Consumer Electronics Society (10%). A search committee led by Profs. Roberta Klatzky (CMU) and Karon MacLean (UBC) has been working on the selection of the inaugural EIC. The nomination and application submission period was recently closed in mid August. 3.5 Coordination of Haptics Conferences At the time the TF/TC Haptics was established in late 2006, there were three active haptics conferences: the Haptics Symposium, EuroHaptics, and World Haptics Conference. The TF/TC Haptics has initiated activities aimed at streamlining the paper submission process for all three conferences, coordinating the dates/location of the three conferences, and resolving long-term sponsorship issues with the Computer Society and the Robotics and Automation Society. Gunter Niemeyer (Stanford) leads the efforts as Vice Chair for Conferences. 3.6 Industrial Sponsorship of Awards At the most recent World Haptics Conference in Japan, the following companies sponsored awards for the best work: - Moog (Best Paper Award: Haptic Human Studies) - Force Dimension (Best Paper Award: Haptic Technology) - Haption (Best Paper Award: Haptic Application) - Immersion (Best Student Paper Award) - Quanser (Best Poster Award) - SensAble (Best Demonstration Award) We will recruit more industrial partners in the future, including Novint, maker of the low-cost high-performance force-feedback device “the Falcon.” 3.7 Coordination of Tutorials/Workshops on Haptics One of our ongoing task is to organize tutorials and workshop on haptics at other conferences, and coordinating the efforts of other researchers who organize such events. Recent examples include a workshop on “Haptic Perception and Rendering” held at ICRA’07 on April 10, 2007 in Rome, Italy; and a tutorial on “Integration of Haptics in Virtual Environments – A Perception-based Approach” held at IEEE VR 2007 on March 10, 2007 in Charlotte, NC, USA. 3.8 Keynotes Presented by Senior Haptics Researchers Numerous keynote speeches were presented by top haptics researchers in the past year, including - “A survey of some major contemporary findings on haptic perception” by Yvette Hatwell (Université Pierre Mendes France) at the EuroHaptics 2006 Conference, July 4, 2006, Paris, France. - “The Role of Psychophysics in Haptics Research: An Engineer’s Perspective” by Hong Z. Tan (Purdue) at the EuroHaptics 2006 Conference, July 5, 2006, Paris, France. - “Haptic Displays for Wearable Applications: History, Opportunities and Challenges” by Hong Z. Tan (Purdue) at the First Workshop on Haptic and Audio Interaction Design on Aug. 31, 2006, Glasgow, Scotland. - “Motion and Action: Gesture and Touch” by Sile O'Modhrain (Queen's University Belfast) at the First Workshop on Haptic and Audio Interaction Design on Sept. 1, 2006, Glasgow, Scotland. - “Medical Robotics and Computer-Integrated Surgery” by Russell H. Taylor (JHU) at the Second International Workshop on Human-Centered Robotic Systems, Oct. 6, 2006, Munich, Germany. - “Centering the Human in Robotic Systems: The Role of Psychophysics” by Roberta Klatzky (CMU) at the Second International Workshop on Human-Centered Robotic Systems, Oct. 6, 2006, Munich, Germany. - “Touching Robots” by Ralph Hollis (CMU) at the Second International Workshop on Human-Centered Robotic Systems, Oct. 7, 2006, Munich, Germany. - “Human Sensory-Motor Performance as Guidelines for Interfacing Humans and Robots” by Hong Z. Tan (Purdue) at the Second International Workshop on Human-Centered Robotic Systems, Oct. 7, 2006, Munich, Germany. 3.9 Summer School Vincent Hayward (McGill University) and several haptics researchers organized a week-long IEEE-RAS/IFRR School of Robotics Science on Haptic Interaction on Sept. 25, 2006 in Paris, France. It is the third summer school offered through co-sponsorship by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) and the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR). The aim of the event was to provide high quality of education in a chosen theme. This occurs through interaction with internationally distinguished researchers in an informal classroom setting as well as through joint student exercises, and hands-on experiments. The goal is not only to acquire scientific knowledge but also to interact closely with prominent instructors, and to meet leading researchers in the field. With better organization provided by the TF/TC Haptics, we will continue to organize similar events in the future. 3.10 Awards The TC on Haptics won the Most Active Technical Committee of the Year award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society for 2006, despite the fact that it was not established until October of 2006. The award was established to recognize one technical committee that made most contribution in service to its membership. 3.11 New Initiative on Interdisciplinary Exchange Student Visits In response to the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) 2007 Funds Initiatives Competition, the TF Haptics was awarded an initiative titled "Student Exchange Program for Cross-Disciplinary Fertilization." The funds will cover the travel expenses for a short-term visit between two laboratories, with emphasis towards activities of cross-disciplinary fertilization. Call for application was sent to the TF Haptics members on Aug. 8, 2007. Deadline for application is Sept. 1, and notification of awards will be made by Sept. 10, 2007. If successful, we hope to continue this initiative on an annual basis. 3.12 TF/TC Haptics funded awards Plans are under way to establish awards for undergraduate students who attend haptics conferences in the form of travel grants and best paper awards. 4. Benefits to Computer Society Members While the theme of the proposed TC is on touch, there is synergistic relationship to many existing TCs in the IEEE Computer Society (Visualization and Graphics) and in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (e.g., Humanoid Robotics, Surgical Robotics). The VGTC has been sponsoring the Haptics Symposium which has been held in conjunction with IEEE VR Conference since 2002. The IEEE Press has been publishing the proceedings of the Haptics Symposium since 2002 as well as the World Haptics Conferences in 2005 and 2007. It is expected that the new TCH will have a positive impact to CS members by contributing to research on scientific data perceptualization (visualization + haptic/audio displays) and on virtual environments. In summary, the TF/TC Haptics has become a “major player” in the international interdisciplinary haptics research community. With the transition from a task force to a technical committee, we hope to continue to serve our members and contribute to science and engineering. APPENDIX A. FOUNDING MEMBERS Listed below are a list of people who agreed to have their name listed as Founding Members of the (eventual) Technical Committee on Haptics. They include past organizers of the major haptics conferences, as well as distinguished haptics researchers. Dr. Bernard D. Adelstein Human Systems Integration Division NASA Ames Research Center Prof. Massimo Bergamasco PERCRO Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Pisa, Italy Prof. Stephen Brewster Department of Computing Science University of Glasgow Dr. Roger W. Cholewiak The Cutaneous Communication Laboratory at Princeton University The Tactile Research Laboratory at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Lab Prof. James C. Craig Psychological and Brain Sciences Indiana University Prof. Mark Cutkosky Department of Mechanical Engineering Stanford University Dr. Marc O. Ernst Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics Germnay Prof. Vincent Hayward Center for Intelligent Machines McGill University Prof. Gerd Hirzinger Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics DLR (German Aerospace Center) Prof. John Hollerbach School of Computing University of Utah Prof. Ralph Hollis The Robotics Institute and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Carnegie Mellon University Prof. Steven Hsiao Krieger Mind/Brain Institute and Depts. of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering The Johns Hopkins University Dr. Lynette Jones Department of Mechanical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Prof. Oussama Khatib Department of Computer Science Stanford University Prof. Abderrahmane Kheddar Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS, France Dr. Fiona Newell School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience Trinity College Dublin Dr. Sile O'Modhrain Sonic Arts Research Centre Queens University Belfast Prof. Tim Salcudean Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The University of British Columbia Prof. Kenneth Salisbury Depts of Computer Science and Surgery Stanford University Ann Marie Shillito Research Fellow in Design and Applied Arts Edinburgh College of Art Prof. Charles Spence Head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory Department of Experimental Psychology Oxford University Prof. Susumu Tachi The University of Tokyo Japan Prof. Alan Wing School of Psychology University of Birmingham Dr. Mark Wright School of Informatics University of Edinburgh Prof. Tsuneo Yoshikawa Ritsumeikan University Japan