IBM predicts computers will have the five human senses within
five years  Robotic Senses  Share This article  Every year, IBM
releases its “5 in 5″ — five technologies that it predicts will
change the world in the next five years. This year, IBM is
taking on the five senses and how we can make our computers work
more like a human being. Touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell
are all on the table, and IBM has five profiles of its employees
researching how computers will use these senses going forward.
Robyn Schwartz, an Associate Director at IBM, explains sense of
touch, and how vibrations on handheld devices like smartphones
can be used to convey texture. Simply by having a predefined and
widely understood conversion of real-life touch to vibration
patterns, we can simulate touch digitally. While it’s not as
crazy as problem-solving Jeopardy computers, this does have
obvious benefits, especially in the world of gaming and
augmented reality (and the fledgling sphere of lovotics).  These
technologies aren’t j