A handshake is a common cultural tradition in the western world. It has been used to start friendships, seal binding agreements, and show “no malice” in competitive sports. But for David Wang (pronounced Wong) Professor of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, a handshake has become a symbol of realizing a dream.
In the early 1990s when the Internet was still a baby, he and his students challenged themselves to transmit a handshake digitally over a network, just for fun. At the time, the dream to communicate touch over a digital network was an “out-the-box” idea. In fact, it was way out-of-the “box”! But ideas were their stock and trade, and this idea they believed had potential to change the world, generate a lot money and make a name for themselves. What they didn’t know was this was the beginning of a journey that would take them to new worlds, literally.
When Alexander Graham Bell succeeded in transmitting sound through a wire, the resulting telephone eventually expanded our ability to communicate one-on-one world-wide. The invention of the telephone, in hindsight, was like throwing a rock into a tranquil pool. It has made possible collaboration resulting in the development of technology and the reformation of society that has advanced humanity on a myriad of fronts.
Historically, when a new form of communication has been discovered such as the printing press, moveable type, radio, television, and the Internet, it has precipitated a tsunami of cultural, social and technological advancements. When people trade ideas and build on their knowledge collectively and work together, there is a synergy which stimulates creativity, discovery and social change. Each technological discovery sends a ripple of cultural and social reform through humanity, and we are in the midst of a sustained technological revolution unlike anything in recorded history.
Transmitting a handshake over the Internet may sound rather trivial, but its impact could be likened to transmitting sound over a wire in 1876. It has the potential to vault technology and society forward. Virtual realities are not very real without the ability to touch something in that reality. So developing touch in a virtual reality (called haptics) is a monumental advancement in human knowledge and David Wang and his team stood on the doorstep of creating virtual worlds which would soon include touch.
In the early stages they experimented with being able to feel a cup with a curser on a computer screen through a joystick – remember those? From there, they explored creating a virtual pool game which calculated the angle and force the virtual cue ball would strike the other balls, and at what angle they would deflect off the cushions of the table. It wasn’t a telephone, but it was a series of incremental steps toward the objective.
It became apparent that it was time to take the technology into the private sector and commercialize it. By doing so, they could build on the knowledge they had, create a bonafide product and fund the research and development with the capital provided by investors.
They formed Handshake Interactive Technologies. Dave Wang left the University and hired his team of graduate students to pursue the dream of communicating touch in a virtual reality. The company quickly became the darling of the high tech investment world. They had been on time and on budget in their early stage development, and their target of entering the 5 billion dollar gaming industry with a whole new experience had investors salivating. In a personal and corporate high point, David and his team realized their initial dream by demonstrating a groundbreaking transmission over the Internet of a handshake between Waterloo, Ontario and Orlando, Florida in December, 2003. Now they had the steak and they had the sizzle, too; but in the midst of their success, things got complicated.
They needed more money – a lot more money to take them to the next step of bringing their product to market. Furthermore, they began to wonder if the electronic gaming market driven by adolescents was going to be able to pay what they had to charge for their technology. They went from moments of triumph to feelings of defeat. They were running out of money and they couldn’t “see” where they were going. In their weakest moment, their values were tested. Touch in a virtual reality could be used in pornography and there was lots of money available to them to fund the research and product development. As a team, they rejected those offers, in spite of the 3 occasions they came within 2 weeks of having no money in the bank – bankrupt! In each case, they found an investor just in time to save the company and their dream of producing a viable beneficial product from the technology.
Their were many applications for the technology in medicine, automotive, tele-medicine, and training. They began to direct the technology toward training surgeons complicated medical procedures using virtual patients. It would, however, take even more money to develop and market the product. In desperate need of financing, the founders agreed to sell most of the ownership of the company to a venture capital group. They provided the much needed money and they also took control of the company. David eventually decided to leave his position as President and return to teaching and the needs of his family of 9 children. Over the next three years, he would direct his creative energy to his love of music, co-producing his 3rd and 4th albums under the name, “Critical Mass”. Handskake would run out of favour with its new owners and close in June 2007, leaving a void in the world of haptics and virtual reality.
David wasn’t discouraged by what happened to the company. He is unwavering in his belief that virtual realities can and will be used to serve, protect and inspire people. He and his team are the “fathers” of a technology which continues to have phenomenal potential. There are solutions to human need which can only be solved through haptics and he and others will build on the foundation of knowledge laid at Handshake. He has a new team of some of the brightest young minds at the University, working on a new dream. They are creating tools which allow anyone to create their own virtual realities. He believes it is another step in making virtual realities as common as using the telephone.
To listen to an audio interview with Professor David Wang visit www.wisdom-radio.com
Originally Published in the New Hamburg Independent September, 2008
