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Abstract
Drones are one of the hottest technologies in the market today as of spring 2015. They are inexpensive, simple, and efficient, and have begun to shape the world today.  As the role of drones in society becomes more commonplace, they will change the way we experience the retail industry by delivering our products with blazing speed at a fraction of the cost.

Introduction
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, predicts his Amazon Prime Air service will deliver packages to your door in 30 minutes or less in the next four to five years on the backs of automated drones (Welch, 2015).  A drone is a powered unmanned aerial vehicle.  The term drone has been used in media cycles and carries heavy connotations such as military application and drug smuggling.  The term UAS will be used in this article instead of the term drone because it is a more technically specific term with less connotation. The Federal Aviation Administration defines an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) as an unmanned aircraft and all the support equipment (Unmanned, 2015).  UAS’s aren’t just for military use, they will serve many more purposes including retail delivery.  As the applications of the UAS expand, Electrical and Computer Engineers will be needed to develop the technology necessary for this to become a reality.  The role of UAS’s in retail delivery will change the entire retail experience for the consumer of tomorrow.
What exactly is an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)?
The Unmanned Aircraft (UA) consists of the actual aircraft itself along with the means of control.  This can be a pilot on the ground controlling the craft via a radio link, an on board computer which controls the flight of the craft, or some combination of the two.  The UA can be any and all flavor of aircraft including well-known traditional fixed wing designs, swept wing designs, helicopters (1+ rotor), quad copters (4 rotors), hexacopters (6 rotors), octocopters (8 rotors), tail sitting aircraft, and seaplanes.  UAs vary in size the smallest of which fit in the palm of your hand and the largest of which have wing spans over 100 feet.

The support systems of the UAS consist of communication links, data links, telemetry systems, and navigation systems.  Communication links of UAS’s can be as simple as a one or more channel radio links as is the case with model aircraft.  Communication links utilized by military UAS’s are far more complex as they utilize powerful antenna sending electromagnetic waves through communication satellites that relay the information to UA’s around the globe almost instantaneously.  Data links are used to send flight controls, real time measurements and other information from the ground station to the UA and back in a two-way secure communication channel.  Real time measurements such as aircraft speed, aircraft altitude, and external temperature, among others in a nearly endless list can be sent back to the ground station to be processed.  The navigation systems of UAS’s also vary quite a bit in complexity from simply a line of sight visual of a controller pilot to a highly complex network of triangulating global satellites, known as the Global Positioning System (GPS) (Cuadra & Whitlock, 2015).

Figure 1
Controlling a UAS with remote control by maintaining line of sight. Source: Howard, derived from 2015.

Figure 2
A simplified example of remote control of a military UAS. Source: Howard, derived from 2015.
Arguably longer than that of manned flight, UAS’s have a rich history that has indelibly impacted the world starting when balloons were launched packed with explosives in 1849 (Holman, 2015).  Conventional UAS’s began at the tail end of WWI, with the Sperry Aerial torpedo which used radio control to drop bombs on the enemy.  Although the Sperry was not launched in earnest before the end of the war, it signified the start of a new era in warfare, dominated by cutting edge electronics.  Development of the warfighter UAS continued into the 70s and 80s where the Israeli Scout and Searcher provided the first real-time reconnaissance in modern-day warfare.  Today’s cutting edge UAS’s include the US military’s predator, with flight times of upwards of 16 hours and 450 mile range UAS’s will continue to expand their roles in warfare reconnaissance and directed air strikes driven by new development in technology (Krock, 2015).

The modern UAS has many uses in addition to its well-publicized military applications. Currently deployed military application of UAS’s consist of high-flying, high-efficiency precision bombers and reconnaissance aircraft which don’t risk the life of a human pilot.  Future development of UAS’s for military application includes ultra-small aircraft the size of insects used to gain previously inaccessible intelligence on the enemies of tomorrow.  Amateur hobbyists perform daring aerial acrobatics using remotely controlled UAS’s. Higher end remotely controlled UAS’s can shoot professional quality HD video from a unique aerial perspective on a low budget.  The UAS has also begun to be used by professionals in industry as a cheap way to monitor crops or document real estate assets (FAA, 2015).  In the retail industry the UAS is poised to change the way humans buy and sell by allowing faster, cheaper, and safer delivery of products. UAS’s have already had a huge impact on today’s society but their impact in the future will be far greater.
The Role of Electrical and Computer Engineers (ECE’s)  
Since the beginning of controlled unmanned flight, Electrical and Computer Engineers have played an integral role in the production and development of UAS’s.  The advent of technologies such as the lithium ion battery will ease the transition of the UAS from established uses in the military to retail delivery.  Many new algorithms and technologies for collision avoidance will need to be developed to ensure the safe and secure retail delivery of tomorrow. The role of ECE’s in developing the technology for the UAS has only just begun, and further development will help shape the world in the months and years to come.

Retail UAS’s have become feasible mainly due to the improvement of their power systems.  UAS’s currently in development are electrically powered by new energy efficient lithium ion batteries.  Lithium, when used in batteries, has the highest energy density of all metals, making it the optimal choice for high performance batteries.  Lithium is highly unstable, so lithium batteries become extremely dangerous during the recharging process.  In order to solve this problem lithium ions instead of lithium metal in the batteries.  While lithium ions have a slightly lower energy density than lithium metal, they are much safer making them ideal for portable batteries.  Before the batteries became a reality, there was one major hurdle left, the cathode, which the source of the energy in every battery.  In 1980, John B. Goodenough came up with the beating heart to every modern lithium ion battery, the cobalt-oxide cathode.  The path was now clear for Sony to successfully commercialize the lithium ion battery in 1991. The advent of lithium ion batteries by ECE’s have allowed the size of UAS’s to become small enough to carefully navigate confined spaces yet powerful enough to move heavy merchandise for retail delivery (LeVine, 2015).  The market has a huge demand for lighter, cheaper, more powerful batteries not only in retail but in many other sectors.  As a result, ECE’s will continue to push the limits of current battery technology and explore alternative energy sources for years to come.

Retail UAS’s would need to develop highly sophisticated collision avoidance systems to prevent accidents when delivering merchandise. The collision avoidance system would need to avoid colliding with stationary objects such as telephone poles, buildings and houses along with moving objects such as people, birds, and other aircraft.  The retail delivery UAS’s of tomorrow will need to make split second decisions using algorithms developed by engineers based on sensors created by ECE’s.  This technology has already begun to be implemented by ECE’s as existing Radar technology could be easily implemented to avoid stationary objects.  Lidar, or light radar, can be used to more easily detect a wide range of nonmetallic objects.  Infrared cameras could be used to detect heat emitting objects such as birds, humans, and other vehicles even in adverse weather conditions.  Visual cameras could also help identify and avoid collisions and provide an accurate account of the flight if needed.  Collision detection is already being perfected by ECE’s at Google who have developed self-driving cars using technologies such as visual cameras and radar.  Further work would need to be done by ECE’s in order to perfect the technique for aerial collision avoidance.

Figure 3 shows a simplified example of remote control of a military UAS: (a) Quadcopter and flying object on path toward collision (b) Quadcopter using radar to search its environment (c) Quadcopter detecting the location and speed of flying object using its radar return (d) Quadcopter performing evasive maneuver to avoid flying object (e) Quadcopter and flying object continue towards destination having successfully avoided collision

Figure 3
(a) Quadcopter and flying object on path toward collision (b) Quadcopter using radar to search its environment (c) Quadcopter detecting the location and speed of flying object using its radar return (d) Quadcopter performing evasive maneuver to avoid flying object (e) Quadcopter and flying object continue towards destination having successfully avoided collision Source: Howard, derived from 2015.
ECE’s have been intimately involved in the development of UAS’s since their wide scale adoption around the end of WWI.  UAS’s have greatly expanded their functionality as ECE’s have further developed the technology that makes them work.  As the demand for UAS’s increases in the coming years, ECE’s will be pressured to develop ever more sophisticated electronics to expand the role of UAS’s in the future.
How does a UAS work?
When the human pilot is removed from the cockpit it becomes necessary to develop a highly complicated navigation system.  The navigation system will rely both on GPS coordinates as well as cameras collecting real time data as has been implemented by remote control hobbyists.  Optimal flight paths will be calculated preflight in order to minimize the risk of colliding with other aircraft as well as minimize the distance of delivery.  In the event of a navigation system failure, sophisticated backup plans need to be developed to ensure the safety of the general public.  The remote controlled UAS hobbyist community has already developed emergency features such as returning to a specific GPS location in the event of lost communications or dangerously low battery levels.  Hobbyists have also implemented completely automated predetermined flight paths based on GPS positions. Retail drones will need to be able to follow predetermined flight paths, but be able to immediately deviate in an emergency situation such as the loss of a rotor or a surprising event like crossing paths with a bird in flight.  These systems will need to be robust enough to work in all weather conditions, climates, and air traffic levels.  The development of safe collision detection systems will be paramount if the delivery UAS is to be successfully implemented.

In the United States the Federal Aviation Administration currently regulates the flight of all commercial, personal, and public UAS’s.  Current FAA regulation allows most amateur UAS flights as long as the following guidelines are followed: no flight within 5 miles of an airport, no flight above 400 ft., and no reckless endangerment.  The FAA also regulates permits for UAS’s of all government run organizations.  All other entities fall under the civil category which is highly regulated.  Civil use of UAS’s has been restricted to permits only for experimental aircraft until recently.  A few exceptions have been made by the FAA such as allowing farmers to monitor their crops and real estate agents to photograph property.  While current FAA regulation of retail drones is restrictive, recent FAA exceptions indicate that retail drones may become commonplace in the skies in the near future.

One advantage of unmanned aerial vehicles is that aircraft designers don’t need to account for the pilots biological limitations when in the cockpit.  This opens the door for aircraft design that was not feasible in the past such as the tail-sitter design. This aircraft is named because it takes off and land vertically (VTOL) and therefore sits on its tail when grounded.  When the aircraft is in motion, the orientation is shifted 90 degrees and flies horizontally for more efficient aerodynamics.  This design was not practical with an onboard human pilot because the quick changes in orientation were extremely difficult to overcome.  The tail-sitter has a few key advantages for retail delivery.  For one its VTOL eliminates the need for expensive runways. Its more efficient horizontal flight means cheaper shipping costs and larger payloads. The ability of the tail-sitter to hover is also a key advantage in retail delivery. Once the destination is reached, the aircraft hovers, and lowers its payload to the customer using a rope system, eliminating the need to land and take off again which burns expensive fuel.  Google is currently developing a tail sitting retail delivery UAS under the name Project Wing.

The development of multi-rotor UAS copters has also begun. Human driven and unmanned helicopters have seen extensive use in the 21st century, but copters with more rotors are better suited to retail delivery development.  The attachment of additional rotors are usually arranged in symmetrical patters of either four, six, or eight total rotors.  These provide a few key advantages for retail delivery UAS’s.  The addiction of extra motors doesn’t provide a more stable or efficient flight, but it does provide a craft that is more easily controlled using software and is significantly cheaper to develop.  As a result, a design of a multi-rotor aircraft could see success as a retail delivery system.  Furthermore, the advent of smaller UAS’s mean more lift is generated per unit of weight than larger aircraft.  As a result, the less powerful but cheaper and much simpler battery system can be used to power the craft (Gao, 2015).  Companies currently developing multi-rotor copter designs include Amazon and UPS.

The advent of UAS’s has allowed aircraft designers the ability to experiment with aircraft designs that weren’t feasible with a human pilot.  This allows UAS’s to become extremely small as the control systems fit on circuit boards which continue to decrease in size.  A software piloted craft can also operate more complicated control systems than humans or even computer-assisted humans.  The loss of the human pilot allows for such ground breaking design as the multi-rotor copter and the tail-sitter which were previously inaccessible.
Future Impact of the UAS
Currently the largest impediment to the development of UAS retail delivery technology has been safety concerns.  The FAA has not sanctioned wide scale commercialized operation of UAS’s because of this.  As of early 2015, the FAA has granted 14 special exemptions to 13 commercial companies (FAA, 2015).  It may take years for the FAA to sort through the rules and regulations which must be implemented in order to ensure the safety of the public but the process is already underway.  UAS’s can crash, and fall from the sky causing potentially expensive damage to property or worse public health.  These safety concerns open up a myriad of never before considered liability questions.

Creating an interconnected retail delivery system also opens a host of hacking vulnerabilities.  Groups or individuals with malicious intent could hijack large numbers of retail drones in order to steal product or commit more heinous crimes. Public privacy is also a huge obstacle to overcome before retail drones become a reality.  UAS delivery drones will most likely be equipped with highly powerful cameras, capable of capturing and storing information intended to remain private.  There are still a multitude of issues that could derail the production of retail delivery UAS’s.

While retail delivery UAS’s have the potential to change the retail industry entirely, this could have unintended detrimental effects on the lives of humans.  The global delivery industry has over $200 billion in revenue (Couriers, 2015) about half of which comes from the United States (Global, 2015).  If this industry suddenly became flooded with UAS’s, the need for human workers in this industry would plummet.  Jobs like truck drivers, mailmen, and delivery couriers would disappear or be greatly diminished in an accelerated timespan.  This would displace a great number of people by eliminating their livelihood without creating comparable jobs.

Current market conditions demand a faster, cheaper, more efficient retail delivery system.  UAS’s are poised to fill this void, and completely change the retail industry in the process.  As UAS’s become faster, the old paradigm of driving to stores to pick up items needed immediately quickly becomes obsolete.  If UAS technology is implemented safely, supermarkets could deliver food before it spoils.  This would allow food delivery to occur more easily in remote areas and in bad weather.  UAS retail delivery systems could allow clothing stores to send clothes to your doorstep to try on in 30 min or less, eliminating the need for huge energy consuming shopping malls and gas guzzling cars in the process.  Electronics companies could send you the latest and greatest phones for you to test out as the UAS sits patiently on your doorstep for its return trip.  Similarly most other retail stores could eliminate physical shopping centers altogether, clearing up road congestion, reducing car accidents, and eliminating wasteful energy consumption practices while making retail delivery faster, safer, and more efficient.  As the development of more and more UAS delivery systems pushes the technological envelop, the pressure from companies like Amazon and Google will force the FAA into creating safe and fair regulations for the advent of the UAS retail delivery system.

The retail industry is poised to take the next step forward in commercializing the UAS.  The retail industry has come to rely on planes, trains, and trucks to deliver merchandise to its customer for decades, but the UAS is positioned to completely overhaul this archaic system.  The technology behind the UAS will determine the impact it will have on society.  The driving force behind this technological development will be the Electrical and Computer Engineers of tomorrow.  The transition won’t be an easy one, with privacy and safety concerns poised to eliminate the prospect of commercialized UAS’s at any point. UAS’s are so desirable to retail companies because they can significantly cut costs of delivery by eliminating human delivery people while also making a faster delivery. They have the potential to change the way humans experience the retail industry and make life just a little bit easier in the process.
Bibliography

Couriers & Local Delivery Services in the US: Market Research Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1950
Cuadra, A., & Whitlock, C. (n.d.). How drones are controlled. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/drone-crashes/how-drones-work/
FAA grants UAV exemptions. (2015, 02). Rotor & Wing, 49 Retrieved from http://www.aviationtoday.com/rw/topstories/FAA-Grants-UAV-Exemptions_84004.html
Gao, Y. (n.d.). What Makes The Quadcopter Design So Great For Small Drones? Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/12/23/what-makes-the-quadcopter-design-so-great-for-small-drones/
Global Courier & Delivery Services: Market Research Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/global/global-courier-delivery-services.html
Holman, B. (n.d.). Airminded. Retrieved from http://airminded.org/2009/08/22/the-first-air-bomb-venice-15-july-1849/
Krock, L. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/spiesfly/uavs.html
LeVine, S. (n.d.). At 92, the man who brought you the lithium-ion battery is still having creative breakthroughs. Retrieved from http://qz.com/338767/the-man-who-brought-us-the-lithium-ion-battery-at-57-has-an-idea-for-a-new-one-at-92/
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/uas/faq/#qn1
Welch, C. (2013, December 2). Bill Gates supports Amazon drone delivery, but says Jeff Bezos may be ‘overly optimistic’ Retrieved from http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/2/5167822/bill-gates-supports-amazon-drone-delivery

Suggested Reading:

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/uas/faq/#qn1

See also (Links to other SHP articles):

Cunningham, Conner: UAV’s in the military
Slinger, Kyle: Batteries for Renewable Energy

Hello everyone! Next week, the Hirsh Health Sciences Library will be doing its semi-annual Affiliation Week Survey. What this means for you is that 4 times a day, a staff member will come around and ask every […]

Abstract
Maglev trains use magnetism to levitate above the tracks on which they travel. They are faster, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly than modern wheeled trains. It may be that one day soon, […]

Abstract
Haptic Technologies are becoming a larger part of the engineering design process today.  They are a part of everything from interfaces to operational necessities of microsurgeries.  Haptic technologies are everywhere in today’s market from cell phones and entertainment systems, to flight controls and medical devices.  There are many different types of haptic technologies.  This article mostly focuses on motor-based haptic actuators, but also touches on pneumatic and tactile systems as well.  This article goes over the basics of what haptic technology is, how it relates to the ECE field, and its application to modern technology.

Introduction
What is Haptic Technology?
Haptic technology is the science, technology, and applications associated with information acquisition and object manipulation through touch.  The word haptic originates from the Greek “Haptikos” which means tactual, or of or connected with the sense of touch (Kurita, 2014).  Haptic technology is everywhere.  The small vibration of a cell phone in response to a touch event is an example of haptic feedback at work. The resistance of a joystick that controls a fighter jet, as it provides a tactile feedback to the pilot, is another example of haptic feedback.  One of the most common forms of haptic feedback is vibration, such as the vibration of video game controllers that add an extra layer of immersion to the simulation being played.  However, pneumatic and tactile technologies have also entered the haptic technology space.  Pneumatic actuators use a system of pressurized tubes to send a response to the user.  Tactile technologies use texture to elicit specific responses from the user (Kurita, 2014).
Why Is Haptic Technology Relevant?
Haptic feedback provides information to one of the five basic senses of the human body: touch.  Most technology today is visual or auditory, but that only applies to two of the 5 senses.  Because of this, the presence and advancement of haptic technology is very important. Haptic technology can be helpful to a variety of situations.  The vibrations of touch screens help us know that we have pressed a button in an otherwise purely visual environment.  Haptic technology can be used to provide useful tactile feedback to people running simulations, or operating equipment from afar (Garre, 2010).  Haptic technologies can also help add context to a virtual environment.  Subtle tactile stimulus can be used to make a virtual environment feel more real, and therefore immerse the user in the technology they are using (Kurihara, 2014).
Relevance To ECE
Hardware and software professionals in Electrical and Computer Engineering build most haptic technology.  The drivers for the actuators of the feedback need to be built and programmed in a way that provides meaningful stimulus to the users.  This involves both hardware and software development.  The logic behind the stimulus trigger and the user interface of the device must also be programmed or built (Kurita, 2014).

Standard haptic actuators are built with embedded electrical motors.  An electrical signal is sent to the motor telling it to vibrate at a specific rate.  The rate is adjustable and can be configured for a variety of patterns.  In order to control the motor, a logical circuit component is needed.  This could be hard wired in terms of set voltages and transistors, but these days it is better to get a prefabricated chip.  Power is also needed in order to drive the motor.  For all this to happen, an Electrical or Computer Engineer is needed.  An Electrical or Computer Engineer can prototype and manufacture a chip to drive the motor, as well as the system to power the motor.  Hardware is only one part of ECE’s roll in haptic technologies.

People in the ECE field also are in charge of programming the devices they design.  Haptic technologies must be programmed to be intuitive and responsive so that they appeal to the user’s tactile senses.  To do this, the programmer must gather user data on how other people interact with current or prototype technologies.  Human Factors engineers are invaluable resources to use in this stage of development, as they can help gather, and assess user data.  Using that data, they redesign the User Interface and try to match the haptic input to the audiovisual display being presented to the user.  An example of tailored haptic interaction is smart phone vibration patterns.  Different applications have unique vibration patterns that are set off when the user receives a notification. The unique vibration pattern lets the user know tactilely what new information their device has received.  People in the ECE field are necessary to make haptic technologies function the way they are expected to.

ECE is influential in non-vibration based haptic technologies as well.  Some haptic technologies are driven by pneumatic tubes, rather than by electric motors (Li, 2014). While the mechanism is different, the principle remains the same.  The engineer has to design a circuit to control the pneumatic actuators, instead of the motor.  The engineer then must program the circuit to manipulate the air pressure to obtain the desired tactile output.
Enhancing User Experience
User Interface
Common haptic technology used today involves the vibration of a device in response to an input event (Kurita, 2014).  A common example of this is the cell phone.  A phone set to vibrate notifies the user that someone is calling them via the tactile stimulus of vibration.  Touch devices like tablets and smart phones vibrate in response to touch events.  Some are built with fewer vibration actuators and vibrate no matter where the user presses.  Other devices vibrate at the specific coordinate that the user presses by using a system of actuators.  This advanced level of feedback provides greater assurance to the user that they pressed in the correct place, and lets them use their device with more ease (Asque, 2014).

A developing haptic technology is the usage of pneumatic input.  This system uses a series of compressible pneumatic tubes that provide a base pressure.  The tubes are small enough that they can be arranged in any sort of configuration.  Like how pixels on a screen form an image, these pneumatic tubes can form a three dimensional shape for the user to place their fingertips on. This is currently being used to relay tactile data to the fingertips of doctors trying to detect tumors.  By using a combination of imaging techniques and haptic technologies, the technician is able to feel inside the patient’s brain and find tumor sites by locating the abnormality tactilely (Li, 2014). More responsive, configurable, and uniquely shaped interfaces can be created with this emerging technology.

The materials used to create a device, as well as its structure also fall under the realm of haptic technologies (Baumgartner, 2015). Different materials can elicit different responses from users, both physically and mentally.  Texture, temperature, friction, responsiveness are all factors to keep in mind when developing technology that will interface with a user.  The way the buttons feel on a keyboard was designed by an engineer to be pleasing to the user.  The responsiveness of a touchpad, or the way that it clicks is another example of tactile design in action.  The smoothness of the surface allows for the user to glide across their screen while the assured clicking of the touchpad lets them know decisively that they have clicked. The tactile nature of haptic technologies is very important to consider when creating user interfaces.
Teleoperation
Teleoperation is the process of operating a device over a distance.  The key factor in teleoperation is knowing the status of the device that is being operated in order to know that it is being operated correctly and make adjustments accordingly (Park, 2004). Normally this can be done with a series of audiovisual cues and alarms that signal the status of the device and warn the user if something is wrong.  The problem with this however, is that this only addresses two of the user’s senses.  With the addition of haptic feedback, an operator can respond faster to changes in the remote device’s environment.  What’s more, the haptic feedback can be built directly into the control system (Figure 1 (b)).  Actions that are to be avoided can create feedback, or resistance in the controls.  This form of negative feedback naturally melds with the process of interacting with the controls, rather than being a notification or cue off to the side.  Normally, pilots can use the tactile resistance of a plane’s controls to help them make small adjustments to stay on course.  Now drone pilots can use the simulated haptic feedback coming from the remote controls to correct their steering when piloting drones remotely (Clarke, 2014).

Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is becoming more and more popular these days (Kurihara, 2014). Augmented reality is technology that provides an interactable overlay on everyday life.  Google Glass, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft’s Hololens are prime examples of virtual and augmented reality platforms.  Visual augmented reality provides a new way of adding interactive environments to everyday life.  However, there is a particular disjoint interacting with these virtual objects, because there is no tactile response.  A user may be able to pick up a virtual ball and play with it, but without the sensation of actually feeling it they are very aware that it is just a simulation.  With haptic technology, and existing visual technology, augmented reality can be enhanced to provide physical reactions to a semi virtual environment.  Haptic technology can be worn in addition to the augmented reality devices (Kurihara, 2014).  With this wearable haptic technology, the user can experience touch sensations that correspond to objects they are interacting with in the virtual overlay on their world.
Warped Perception
Using haptic technologies can have an interesting effect on the human mind.  One study used haptic feedback and audiovisual stimulation to make it seem as though the operator’s arm was a robotic arm. Industrial and mechanical noises were played along with an overlaid animation of the user with a robotic arm instead of his actual arm.  At the same time haptic feedback was applied to his “robot” arm that corresponded with the audiovisual cues.  The haptic feedback provided to them was enough to alter their perception to make them feel that they actually did have a robotic limb (Kurihara, 2014).  Haptic technology can be used not only for augmented reality, but also to create an altered perception of reality.
Medical Applications
Haptic technology has many useful applications in the medical field.  Haptic feedback combined with a combination of teleoperation and miniaturization can help surgeons perform advanced surgery at a very small scale (Park, 2004).  Medical equipment in general can be built to be more intuitive with the addition of haptic feedback. The technology can be built to be more responsive, and also have greater precision and safety measures with the addition of haptic technologies (Díaz, 2014).  Haptic technologies have also shown to help people with disabilities recover faster during physical therapy (Placidi, 2013).
Market For Haptic Technology
At Home
Haptic technologies can be used for a variety of applications at home.  Today many people already use haptic technology in their entertainment systems.  All modern day controllers have a built in vibration unit that provides stimulus when an in game vibration occurs for an extra layer of immersion in the simulation.  Additionally, the gyroscopes built in to some modern day controllers are used in conjunction with the vibration modules to provide a tactile sense of manipulating a three dimensional object, such as rotating a key to the correct position in a lock.  There is a market for at-home haptic technology that uses augmented reality and teleoperation.
Professional
Haptic technologies in the work environment can lead to greater productivity.  Teleoperation can be made more user friendly and efficient with haptic technology. The additional touch sensations can trigger built in reflexes that can be acted on without thinking, increasing response time while operating.  Augmented reality interfaces enhanced with tactile feedback can be used to create systems we haven’t even dreamed of yet.  Entirely virtual environments can be placed on top of our world that we will be able to go up to and physically interact with.  Microsurgery is possible and more efficient because of the haptic feedback provided to surgeons by their devices.
Issues With Haptic Technology
Limitations
Haptic feedback does have its drawbacks.  The drivers of the devices are limited in their response in magnitude, timing and precision.  The size of the haptic technology affects the magnitude and precision of the feedback possible.  Precision is also affected by the placement of the actuators as well as the coordination of the actuators being the used to drive a single stimulus.  There is also going to almost always be delay in the feedback response.  A delayed response has a negative impact on the intuitiveness of the device.  If a user is notified tactilely that they pressed a button after they press it instead of while they pressed it, it will break the illusion that they are pressing a real button (Díaz, 2014).  If there are delays in the pneumatic system, key areas of interest might be overlooked when examining a patient’s brain (Li, 2014).  Delays can be minimized through efficient hardware and software design, but will always exist in some capacity.
Similar Technologies More Efficient
Some forms of physical therapy have proven more cost effective than the current methods of haptic technology based physical therapy (Placidi, 2013).  Methods using a combination of image processing and visualizations have shown to have comparable results to similar haptic rehabilitation technologies.  Future manufactured haptic technology may prove to be more cost effective.
Conclusion
Haptic technologies provide tactile stimulation to interfaces, allowing for an enhanced user experience.  This technology is present in many of the devices used today, from teleoperated surgery and augmented reality interfaces to the vibrations of a common cell phone.  ECE is at the forefront of haptic technology development, creating the software and hardware that makes up modern haptics.  With the new developments in haptic technology, technologies of science fiction could become science fact.
Bibliography

Asque, C.T., Day, A.M. & Laycock, S.D. (2014) Augmenting graphical user interfaces with haptic assistance for motion-impaired operators, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 72(10–11), Pages 689-703, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.05.007
Baumgartner, E., Wiebel, C. B., Gegenfurtner, K. R. (2015) A comparison of haptic material perception in blind and sighted individuals, Vision Research: 10.1016/j.visres.2015.02.006
Clarke, Roger. (2014) What drones inherit from their ancestors, Computer Law & Security Review, 30(3), Pages 247-262. DOI: 10.1016/j.clsr.2014.03.006
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Garre, C., & Otaduy, Miguel A. (2010) Haptic rendering of objects with rigid and deformable parts, Computers & Graphics,  34(6), Pages 689-697. DOI: 10.1016/j.cag.2010.08.006
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Suggested Reading

LiveScienceVideos: Haptic Technology Lets you ‘Touch’ Virtual Objects

See also:

Nanotechnology
Retail Delivery Drones
Robotic Assisted Surgery
UAVs in the Military
Wearable Electronics

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