ve been used for many years in both military and industrial applications, none is suitable for the multimedia applications envisaged by TAI-CHI. Some commercial products also exist, but these are limited in their application to flat glass surfaces only and are restricted by size. The TAI-CHI project will go well beyond these limitations. "Our goal is to make this technology accessible to all," says Dr. Yang, who leads the TAI-CHI team. "Once that is done, the possibilities of application are endless." 9.4.1 Touching Research As touch technology moves forward, it appears likely that it will evolve into yet another way people will communicate electronically. Right now, researchers at the University at Buffalo's Virtual Reality Laboratory are TOUCH INPUT bringing a new and literal meaning to the old AT&T slogan, "Reach out and touch someone." The engineers have created a new technology that transmits the sensation of touch over the Internet. The development could lead to the creation of tech- nologies that teach users how to master various skills and activities, such as surgery, sculpture, playing the drums, or enhancing golf skills, all of which require the precise application of touch and movement. "As far as we know, our technology is the only way a person can communicate to another person the sense of touch he feels when he does something," says Thenkurussi Kesavadas, a University of Buffalo associate professor of mechanical and aero- space engineering and the lab's director. Although the technology is still a long way from being able to capture and communicate the complex feel of a perfect golf swing, Kesavadas and his fellow researchers have successfully used it to transmit the sensation of touch- ing a soft or hard object and the ability to feel the contour of particular shapes. The researchers call their technology "sympathetic haptics," which means "having the ability to feel what another person feels," says Kesavadas. The technology communicates what another person is feeling through an active-tracking sys