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TECHNOLOGY


Museum visitors can now touch ancient artefacts virtually. Christopher Dean explains how the technology works


the Manchester Museum, UK, became the first museum in the world to harness the new technology of haptics, giving an entirely new way of accessing the museum’s collection of ancient artefacts in its revamped Egyptian Gallery, the Ancient Worlds. This was achieved using a console called Probos, which brings digital images, sound and haptics – or virtual touch – together. Created by Touch and Discover Systems, with funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Probos is a portal into virtually touching objects that are too precious to receive regular handling. It offers a selec- tion of objects from a digitised catalogue that can be explored to reveal their physical qualities, attributes and history. Originally designed with blind and visually impaired users in mind, it has appealed to early users, especially children.


n 2012, HOW IT WORKS


Using a control device held in the fingertips, the user can explore the surfaces, shapes and sounds of ancient objects that are usually inaccessible behind glass cases. Haptics draws on force feedback to create resistance to touch, tricking the mind into the sensation of touch. In fact, nothing is there at all – it’s all virtual.


124 Attractions Handbook 2013–2014


GET IN TOUCH I


So far, three artefacts have been digitised at Manchester Museum


The haptics device at the heart of the system is a SensAble Phantom Omni, but the user is deliberately given the simplest of interfaces, so they’re able to use the technol- ogy after a brief tutorial with everyday objects and are unaware of the underpinning tech- nology – we wanted the users’ focus to be on the object they’re exploring, rather than the technology they’re simultaneously experienc- ing. Probos also adds extra dimensions for the sighted because it uses the three main senses of vision, hearing and touch. So far, Manchester Museum has digitised


three of its artefacts: a Greek jug, dating from circa 500 BC; a terracotta bowl surmounted with hippopotamus figures, dating from circa 5,000 BC; and an Egyptian figurine, dating from circa 380 BC. The visualisation environ- ment was done using custom software by


virtual reality company Virtalis. The objects were then sited in re-creations of their likely original locations and each object was cov- ered with hot spots, which tell the user about the item’s construction and history. Haptics are used to tell the story of each object. Explorers of the hippopotamus bowl don’t just feel the hippos, they also feel the crack that runs along its centre. The bowl even sounds cracked when you tap it virtually. Ultimately, we hope to digitise objects from


collections all over the world, bringing them within literal reach of vast audiences. We’ve also developed a portable version of Probos, so museum masterpieces will be able to travel to schools, colleges, universities and remote communities. The Probos team worked in close collaboration with Virtalis’ lead modeller, Tim Goodwin. As the technol- ogy was entirely new, there was a great deal of experimentation with the user interface to find the best way for people to learn how to operate the system without time consuming instructions. “Trying to design something completely intuitive is bizarrely difficult,” admits Goodwin.


THE INSPIRATION


A simple omni handle is easy to use and disguises the complex technology needed


The idea behind harnessing touch to enrich visitor experience began in 2002. Having trained in sculpture at the Royal Academy, I


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