World's First: Illusion Technique Devised to Convey Softness and Stickiness Without Touch

Key Points of the Announcement:

We have devised an illusion technique that can non-contactually present tactile qualities such as softness and stickiness by manipulating how virtual objects deform in augmented reality (AR).

This method does not require dedicated devices like controllers or haptic feedback devices, but instead combines hand movements captured by a PC or smartphone camera with display output to create the illusion of texture.

This technique contributes to realizing a new communication method for conveying the texture of objects to remote locations using PCs and smartphones.

NTT Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Akira Shimada; hereinafter “NTT”) has devised an illusion technique that non-contactually conveys tactile qualities such as softness and stickiness using virtual objects that deform in response to hand movements in an augmented reality environment.

This research showed that the spatial deformation range when pressing an object affects the perception of softness, and the length of stretching of an object accompanying finger movement defines the perception of stickiness. Conventionally, devices such as mice or controllers were required, but this method combines hand movements captured by a camera with display output, controlling deformation parameters (spatial deformation range and stretching length) to enable manipulation of virtual objects and presentation of textures. This makes it possible to transmit textures to remote locations without dedicated devices, and its application is expected in e-commerce (*1) and remote communication.

Part of these results have been published in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics [1], and a demo exhibition is planned for the “Communication Science Laboratories Open House 2026” (*) to be held from May 20, 2026.

(*) Communication Science Laboratories Open House 2026 https://www.kecl.ntt.co.jp/openhouse/2026/

Figure 1. Overview of discoveries and ripple effects in this research. (a) Overview of discoveries: 1. In the softness illusion technique, the user pinches a virtual object displayed on the screen with their own fingers. By presenting deformation while adjusting the amount of indentation and spatial deformation range during pinching, the quality of softness can be controlled. 2. In the stickiness illusion technique, the user separates their own thumb and index finger displayed on the screen. By stretching a virtual object displayed between the fingers and presenting it as tearing at a certain point, the quality of stickiness can be controlled. (b) Diagram explaining ripple effects: Based on this illusion technique, the goal is to share textures and enhance experiences. In the future, applications are expected in presenting product textures on e-commerce sites, remote communication, and the fields of education and entertainment.

1. Background In recent years, with the development of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, sharing experiences in remote locations and presenting products online have become widespread. However, tactile qualities such as softness and stickiness have conventionally been difficult to present adequately without dedicated devices such as haptic feedback devices. Therefore, in situations like online purchasing, it has been challenging to intuitively grasp product textures, making purchasing decisions difficult.

On the other hand, it is known that humans can perceive qualities such as softness and weight of objects even from visual information alone, and the possibility of non-contact texture presentation using vision has attracted attention. Until now, it has been shown that visual cues such as indentation depth affect the perception of softness, but it was not sufficiently clarified what visual information systematically defines texture perception.

Therefore, the objective of this research was to focus on the deformation of virtual objects and to clarify the visual parameters for non-contactually conveying tactile qualities such as softness and stickiness.

2. Key Technical Points ① Softness: Expressed by controlling the spatial deformation range In this research, we manipulate the perception of softness by controlling the spatial deformation range (how deformation spreads) when pressing a virtual object (see Figure 1(a), softness illusion technique). Experiments revealed that the perception of softness changes with the spatial deformation range, and that softness is felt most strongly within a specific range. By applying this spatial deformation range as a parameter for object deformation in virtual space, it becomes possible to present softness non-contactually using only visual information.

② Stickiness: Expressed by controlling the object's stretch (tearing distance) We manipulate the perception of stickiness by controlling the stretching length (tearing distance) of a virtual object that deforms with finger movements (see Figure 1(a), stickiness illusion technique). Experiments revealed that the longer the object stretches, the stronger the perceived stickiness. This achieves non-contact visual presentation of stickiness, which was conventionally difficult.

③ Real-time control of texture according to hand movements Based on hand movements captured by a camera, these deformation parameters are controlled in real-time.