Fig 1: Basic concept of this system. Fig 2: Overview of the
interface Fig 3: Shape recognition using this interface. In the
real world, we usually touch real objects which are put on
reachable area. However, we cannot touch real objects which are
put on unreachable area in daily life. The meanings of
hunreachable objectsh are not only they exist in distance, but
also they exist in showcase or restricted area such as
showpieces at science/ art museums. If status of remote objects
can be measured in real time, we can feel a reaction force from
the remote objects with a haptic interface(Fig 1). Fig 2 shows
overview of the prototype system. The system consists of a laser
range finder, computer and a 1 degree-of-freedom haptic
apparatus. Since the laser light can go through glass, the laser
range finder can measure the distance to an object even though
the object is placed beyond a transparent glass. Therefore we
can measure the distance to an untouchable object without any
pre-recorded data. The haptic apparatus