Activities

The TCH has been operating since 2006.  We engage in a range of activities to strengthen the worldwide haptics research community and to improve communication among the different disciplines that come together in this field of study.  Our main activities are outlined below.

Conferences

Our conferences typically include two and a half or three days of paper presentations and demos, preceded or followed by one day of workshops and tutorials. They are usually attended by between 200 and 500 people, providing a range of forums to present, discuss, and demonstrate interdisciplinary research.  

In even years, the IEEE Haptics Symposium is held in North America, the EuroHaptics Conference is held in Europe, and the AsiaHaptics Conference is held in Asia.  In odd years, these three conferences come together to form our flagship international conference, the IEEE World Haptics Conference, which rotates between the three continents.

TCH has been particularly involved in helping organize Student Innovation Challenges at these conferences.  These activities give student teams from around the world the chance to develop a custom haptic application for novel hardware

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Workshops and Tutorials

In addition to the workshops and tutorials held at the haptics conferences mentioned above, the TCH also supports researchers who are organizing workshops and tutorials related to haptics at any other conference. We typically agree to support several such proposals each year at ICRA and IROS.

The Newsletter of TCH

We publish a quarterly magazine, The Newsletter of TCH, to publicize the latest progress in haptic science and technology to readers inside and outside the IEEE RAS community.

Student exchange programs

TCH runs and fund an annual grant to support cross-fertilization among research groups and increase connections within the haptics community. Two student exchanges of several months in duration are supported each year.  The provided funds can be used for travel and living expenses

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Early Career Awards

TCH coordinates and bestows the TCH Early Career Award every other year. Here is a listing of the winners:

  • 2021: Dr. Heather Culbertson from the University of Southern California in the USA
  • 2019: Dr. Vincent Levesque from École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS)
  • 2017: Dr. Michael Wiertlewski from the Aix-Marseille University in France
  • 2015: Dr. Ki-Uk Kyung from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Korea
  • 2013: Dr. Sliman Bensmaia from the University of Chicago in the USA
  • 2011: Dr. Seungmoon Choi from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in Korea
  • 2009: Dr. Allison Okamura from the Johns Hopkins University in the USA

 

Distinguished Service Awards

TCH coordinates and bestows the TCH Distinguished Service Award. Here is a listing of the winners:

  • 2021: Dr. Lynette Jones from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA.  In recognition of efforts to develop a publishing mechanism between the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, Haptics Symposium, and World Haptics Conference.