The Communication Of The Future Is So Real You Can Touch It

Today, our notion of telepresence -- the ability to feel present in another location -- has been generally confined to our visual and audio senses. But other prototypes are, by design, meant to add to our ability to express ourselves remotely. An experiment at the MIT Media Lab, dubbed InTouch, translated movements into a form of communication that typically requires people to share the same physical space.

"The two components of telepresence are interpersonal space and shared information," says Hiroshi Ishii, associate director of the MIT Media Lab. Using a similar project called InForm, I can copy the shape of my hand and its movements into a 3-D rendering that exists on a remote workspace. The prototype consists of identical workspaces with depth-sensing cameras and sensor-based pegs that move up and down in reaction to one's movements. A slew of new companies -- including Lumo BodyTech, MEMI, Ringly and Artefact -- integrate haptic feedback to correct our posture and alert us to important calls. How will this new tangible means of communication impact how we interpret more emotional messages, like the nuances of someone’s smile? As with other technology breakthroughs in communication, we’ll just have to feel it out.