On June 5, 2021, the First China Conference on HAPIC Technology and Application was successfully held in Nanjing. The conference was led by RM’s principal scientist—Prof. Song Aiguo of Southeast University, and jointly organized by China Instrument and Control Society, Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, Jiangsu Artificial Intelligence (JSAI) Robotics Committee, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Nanjing Branch, Nanjing Advanced Robotics Research Institute, Jiangsu Instrument and Control Society, Southeast University Robot Sensing and Control Technology Research Institute, Zhijiang Lab, etc.

This conference is just as the 2021 Nanjing Innovation Week is about to be held. With the theme of HAPTIC Perception and Interaction, New Technology Leading the Future, many well-known domestic and foreign experts and representatives of domestic manufacturers in the field of haptic technology were invited to give academic reports and present product technologies.

Tang Yongshi, Deputy Director of Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, Zhang Tong, Secretary General of China Instrument and Control Society, Liu Hongwen, Deputy Director of Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, Prof. Song Aiguo, Executive Vice President of the Southeast University Space Science and Technology Institute and Deputy Director of State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, and other leaders and experts attended the meeting and delivered speeches. 250+ people from 10+ provinces and cities, 80+ universities and research institutes, and 70+ enterprises attended the conference.

Haptic technology is the core technology in the fields of robotics, human-computer interaction and virtual reality. It includes haptic sensing technology, haptic feedback technology, haptic calculation technology, force control technology and psychological and physiological research of haptics. 18 industry technical experts from famous universities and institutes, such as Tsinghua University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Beihang University, Zhijiang Lab, were specially invited to share the latest development of haptic technology, application research results and industrial practice cases in different fields like robot teleoperation, virtual reality (VR), human-computer interaction, medical-surgery robots, rehabilitation robots and virtual training.

At this conference, RM exhibited a Delta-structure force feedback hand controller permitting DIY, which can provide solutions requiring high-precision force control and feedback. The delta hand controller can feedback and control according to the haptic force at the end of the actual execution, just like a real person working manually. It can cross-integrate various industries and disciplines, e.g., acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine, surgical training, stomatology, massage, bone setting, puncture, precise disassembly and assembly in a mechanical direction, carving, space painting, etc.

On practical experience, experts spoke highly of the product, conducted in-depth communication with us and gave comments and suggestions from the perspective of their specialized fields. The final criterion for judging whether the results of technology R&D and innovation are valuable should be feedback from the market. Participating universities and research institutions have affirmed the progress and results of our company in the direction of technology R&D, achievement transformation and marketing, and initially expressed their willingness for school-enterprise cooperation and industry-university-research cooperation in the next stage.

This conference is really a substantial opportunity for us to exchange our experience with more practitioners in the industry and top R&D talents of haptic technology at home and abroad. We believe that there will soon be more pilot projects for haptic technology application modes, and that they will usher in considerable development with joint efforts from all the participants.

At the end of the conference, Prof. Song Aiguo of Southeast University initiated a proposal for setting up the China HAPTIC Technical Committee and discussed it with all guests and participants.