Application for New Technical Committee 1. Proposed Title Technical Committee on Haptics (TCH) 2. Proposed Scope 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. 3. 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 69 oral presentations, 143 posters and 35 hands-on demonstrations with a total attendance of 378 people at the First World Haptics Conference in 2005. 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 time is ripe for a TC on Haptics to bring together the international haptics research community from a diverse array of disciplines to debate challenges and opportunities in haptics research, and to make concerted efforts towards experimental, theoretical, and algorithmic breakthroughs in this growing field. 4. Relationship to existing TCs While the theme of the proposed TC is on touch, there is synergistic relationship to many existing TCs in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (e.g., Humanoid Robotics, Surgical Robotics) and in the IEEE Computer Society (Visualization and Graphics). It should be mentioned that the Haptics Symposium was started by J. Edward Colgate (Northwestern University) and Bernard D. Adelstein (NASA Ames Research Center) -- two roboticists specializing in control and mechanism design. The IEEE RAS has been a natural home for many haptics researchers already, and IEEE Press has been publishing the proceedings of the Haptics Symposium since 2002 as well as the first World Haptics Conference in 2005. It is expected that the new TCH will have a positive impact on many existing RAS TCs (e.g., by contributing to tactile sensing technology in intelligent robotic systems). 5. Goals within 2 to 4 years Two-Year-Goal: to provide a focal point for and to coordinate the activities of the international haptics research community, both in academia and in industry. Four-Year-Goal: to advance the field of haptics by identifying and coordinating activities along focused directions; to create a Transactions-quality journal on haptics; and to further broaden membership by seeking joint-sponsorship from other IEEE societies and possibly organizations outside IEEE. 6. Proposed Chair and Co-Chairs (with affiliations and contact info) Hong Z. Tan (Purdue University, USA) hongtan@purdue.edu Matthias Harders (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) mharders@vision.ee.ethz.ch Hiroyuki Kajimoto (University of Electro-Communications, Japan) kajimoto@hc.uec.ac.jp 7. Confirmation that the Proposed Chair and Co-Chairs have reviewed the TAB Charter and are prepared to accept the associated Duties. The duties are listed as: 1) Serve as a reliable point of contact for the TC via email 2) Coordinate and promptly submit semi-annual reports to the VP-TA 3) Submit one TC Technical Progress Slide (see Appendix IV) at least 4 weeks prior to ICRA each year 4) Define and annually update the TC scope 5) Maintain the TC website 6) Maintain the TC membership list (including email addresses) 7) Recruit new members 8) Attending semi-annual TAB meetings (or sending a representative) 9) Communicate at least twice a year with TC members via group email 10) Encourage research in their area 11) Advise junior researchers in their area 12) Track major developments in their area 13) Promptly respond to inquiries from fellow researchers and the press 14) Alert VP-TA about major research developments 15) Evaluate new results and initiatives when requested by the VP-TA 16) Recommend reviewers when requested by EICs 17) Attend the annual Young Professionals Lunch at ICRA 18) Self-evaluate progress and consider retirement of the TC The co-chairs are prepared to accept these duties. 8. Proposed TCH Executive Committee (confirmed) CHAIR: Hong Z. Tan (Purdue University, USA) CO-CHAIR: Matthias Harders (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) CO-CHAIR: Hiroyuki Kajimoto (University of Electro-Communications, Japan) SENIOR ADVISORS: 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) Prof. 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) 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) 9. List of confirmed Founding Members other than members of the executive committee 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 Nat Durlach Senior Lecturer, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT Visiting Scientist, Dept of Biomedical Engineering and Hearing Research Center, Boston 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. Janet Weisenberger Dept of Speech and Hearing Science Ohio State University Prof. Alan Wing School of Psychology University of Birmingham Dr. Mark Wright School of Informatics University of Edinburgh Prof. Tsuneo Yoshikawa Ritsumeikan University Japan