CES 2020: Feel Genuine Tactile Sensations with Weart from e-Novia
LAS VEGAS – Weart’s presence at the CES is testament to how it has set new technological standards: thanks to the company belonging to e-Novia, tactile sensations like temperature, texture perception, and pressure can be digitally recorded and reproduced with pioneering levels of realism. At the exhibition in Las Vegas it is unveiling the latest version of its technology in a world exclusive, involving visitors in interactive experiences that redefine the concept of immersivity.
At the stand one can try a virtual reality product designed for professional training and customer experience applications, to experience a reality augmented with the real tactile sensation of virtual objects. Weart can also demonstrate the potential of its technology through the use of multimedia content which is ‘augmented’ with the sense of touch.
The technology used in Weart was created in the SIRSLab (Siena Robotics and Systems Lab) at the University of Siena then developed by e-Novia, the Enterprises Factory. It combines two types of instrument to detect and reproduce haptic feedback: the ‘Sensing Core’, able to record tactile sensations, and the ‘Actuation Core’ which reproduces sensations onto the user’s skin. “The devices we are developing can be seen as the equivalent of microphones and speakers for the sense of touch. Not only do they allow the user to record their tactile interactions in terms of force, vibrations and variations in temperature while they explore or grasp objects in their surrounding environment, but they are also able to reproduce these sensations, achieving the same process of digitalisation for touch as has already been achieved for sight and hearing” explained Guido Gioioso, co-founder of Weart and researcher at SIRSlab.
Thanks to this technology, two users who are far away from each other can exchange and share tactile sensations, for example during a videocall, in addition to audio and video sensations, communicating with each other through the sense of touch, which is strongly connected to our emotional sphere. As well as use in augmented and virtual reality training contexts, Weart’s technology can have a potentially revolutionary impact when applied to the digitalisation of materials, gaming and entertainment.
e-Novia, the Enterprises Factory
Weart is at CES Las Vegas from the 7th to the 10th of January 2020 and can be found at the stand belonging to the Enterprises Factory e-Novia. As an Enterprises Factory, e-Novia’s business model sees it take ideas or intellectual property and use them to form and develop innovative hi-tech companies.
Today e-Novia boasts 31 entrepreneurial projects among its portfolio, based on over 40 patents, and was listed by the Financial Times in 2018 and 2019 among the thousand fastest-growing companies over the last three years, and by Inc. among the five thousand fastest-growing European companies.
e-Novia continues to produce significant numbers, from revenue to investments to the number of employees, the number of companies formed, and the number of patents filed.
e-Novia, CES 2020, Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall 2, Stand Number 26030
