This is just a basic list of some of the options and is by no means comprehensive. Special thanks goes out to those who contributed these ideas! Send us your suggestions for other uses and we’ll add them.

To get your thoughts flowing… try to think of something that would be educational for students to experience, but for what ever reason is not feasible in real life (cost, distance, existence, etc.)… can you create it in a digital world? If so, this is a good candidate for this list.

1. Virtual Worlds for Distance Education

2. Health Care (If you are interested in Health Care you should check out our literature review and bibliography… there is a good deal of research in there relating to haptics in the health care field.) Some applications include:

  • Distance Surgeries
  • Haptic Mammogram’s
  • Training - Allows doctors to not only practice virtually, but feel the pressure needed to make an incision

3. Disability Services

  • Allow visually impaired persons to feel their way around the web or the shape of objects

4. Arts

  • Digital art manipulation - sculptures

5. Geography

  • Allow users to feel the geographic terrain of the world

6. Statistics

  • Map out geographic statistics and allow users to feel the difference in weight (populations, income level, etc.)

7. Physics

  • Feel the weight of an object on earth vs the weight on other planets

8. Literature

  • Feel the shape of objects described in literature - think Kafka’s Pain Machine described in detail in “In the Penal Colony.”

9. Physical Health

  • Rehabilitation

10. Geology

  • Create a model of different kinds of rocks and allow the students to feel the difference in hardness

11. Anthropology

  • Create an ancient virtual dig and allow students to feel the hardness of rocks and dig out an ancient treasure