Hugging Across the Internet: Sensation of Touch Could Become Online Reality - Hope 103.2

Hugging Across the Internet: Sensation of Touch Could Become Online Reality

Imagine being able to hug through your laptop or phone. Dr Zhanwei Hou believes the "tactile internet" could make that a reality.

Listen: Dr Zhanwei Hou chats about the "tactile internet" with Hope Afternoon's Ben McEachen

By Ben McEachenFriday 8 Oct 2021Hope AfternoonsCultureReading Time: 1 minute

The idea of being able to touch something through the internet is beyond my paygrade.

However, for Dr Zhanwei Hou and a team of researchers at University of Sydney, they’ve been working on something called the “tactile internet”.

Yes, I don’t understand that either. But in simple terms I can understand: they are trying to help us feel the sensation of touch… in the digital realm.

Zhanwei spoke with Hope Afternoons about this incredible project to allow us all to “hug across the internet”.

This project is personal for Zhanwei. He shares how he has been inspired by his yearning for his parents in China to be able to hold his newborn son in Australia.