Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
ECSE 618



Haptics

Introduction

Haptics, as a field, dates back to the end of the 19th Century. The field has undergone rapid development in the past 10 years with the creation of numerous academic and industrial research groups worldwide and of a lively academic community. Literally 1000's of papers/year are published with haptics in the title including dedicated conferences and tracks in conferences in several other fields (Robotics, Computer Graphics, Neurosciences, Virtual Reality, Systems and Control, etc.). This has led to the creation of a small industry which is well represented in Canada. Existing available books are suitable more for popular audiences, whereas this course aims to cover the fundamental elements of the field.

Instructor

Vincent Hayward, MC 440, Office Hours: TBA, 398-5006, hayward@cim.mcgill.ca

Time and Place

Fall 2007: 12:35 PM - 1:25 PM, ENGTR 0060 (MWF)

Tentative Course Description

The course is intended for graduate students in ECSE, ME, CS, and Biomed interested in studying touch for use in technological systems such as human-machine interfaces, systems intended for education, training, rehabilitation, as well as a multitude of other applications like computer games. This, of course, includes the study of haptics for its own sake as a perceptual and computational phenomenon. Format and Evaluation

There will be half lectures, half seminars given by the students or by the instructor to discuss selected papers.
Evaluation will be based on a research project with term paper, in-class presentations and assignments.

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