Ultrahaptics has been presented with the Innovation Award by the judging panel of the 2016 NMI awards. The NMI awards acknowledge the achievements and behaviours of companies that contribute to a strong and active Electronic Systems industry in the UK and Ireland. Ultrahaptics was founded in 2013 after developing a viable solution to create feeling in mid-air, without the need to wear or touch anything.

Ultrahaptics, specialist in mid-air touchless haptic technology, has introduced a development platform that allows companies looking to evolve innovative control solutions a route to easily evaluate and appreciate the benefits of gesture controls enhanced by tactile feedback sensations. 

Mid-air haptic feedback technology company, Ultrahaptics, have been awarded the Start Up of the Year award by the judging panel of the 2016 British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEAs). The BEEAs recognise companies who have demonstrated significant innovation in engineering design within the last 12 months. 

Inspired by Ian Waterman; a man with no sense of touch who has to rely solely on sight for control; Tom Carter, CTO and Founder of Ultrahaptics, has created and developed ultrasonic free-space haptics technology. Carter explained at the Ultrahaptics Press Event last month at their offices in Bristol's Enterprise Zone, VR is never going to recreate a truly immersive experience without touch.

The bathroom is not a place we tend to associate with technology but the advent of gesture-based interfaces can change all that. One of the big problems with bathroom controls is that we have to touch them - often with hands covered with soap. Being able to make a gesture to alter the flow of water or change its temperature can make a big difference to usability.

As Heather Macdonald Tait, Marketing Communications, Ultrahaptics explains, touch is the first sense that we experience in the womb. Though just one of five senses we use to relate to the world around us, the value of touch - formed from the activation of neural receptors in the skin and hair follicles, as well as some organs - is inestimable for survival.