Augmented Reality Floor Simulates Walking on Snow, Pebbles, and Grass

One less reason to keep spending so much time in nature.

What happens when display screen technology gets so cheap you can lay it down like carpeting? Researchers at Canada's McGill University have an idea: floor tiles which use precisely calibrated vibrations to simulate snow, grass, sand, and myriad other surfaces--and can even be programmed to become virtual buttons and sliders.

As Tech Review reports, the "haptic" floor tiles, which were created by Yon Visell, a PhD student at McGill's...