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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Tonight on Quantum
the final touch

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to virtual reality,
a phantom arm feeling

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its way in cyberspace,
genetic links that hold

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hope for victims
of breast cancer.

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We have a gene that we can
say, well, this is the cause.

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And plans to cash in on
a billion dollar crop

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with the help of
an unlikely ally.

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Hello, and welcome to
another edition of Quantum.

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Also tonight from Western
Australia, how science is

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helping to catch gold thieves.

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But first Geoffrey
Burchfield gets

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to grips with the latest
in virtual reality.

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Creating a machine that
mimics the human body

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is a tough act to
follow, but Thomas Massie

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isn't a novice at this.

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Since the tender
age of nine, he's

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been building robots out of
any spare parts he could find,

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even his mother's vacuum
cleaner wasn't safe.

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By the time he'd left
high school in Kentucky,

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and headed for the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology

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in Boston, he could build an
arm that R2-D2 would kill for.

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But this is something
very special.

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You're looking at one of the
most remarkable creations

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in artificial intelligence.

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Thomas calls it, the phantom.

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And it's true, there's not
much to it, or so it appears.

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And yet it's capable
of putting you in touch

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with your computer
in a way, that

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until now, seemed impossible.

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So throw away the keyboard.

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Forget voice
recognition, phantom

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uses a much more subtle
means of communication,

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the sense of touch.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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In the space of a few
years, virtual reality

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has opened new worlds to us.

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Wired masks and
other contraptions

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have allowed us to see and
hear things that exist only

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in the mind of a computer.

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But we've been
denied the one sense

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that would have made the
virtual truly believable.

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We couldn't touch those objects
and see what they felt like.

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Well, now that's changed.

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Hey Geoff, pull up a seat.

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I think you're
going to like this.

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OK, I've been really
looking forward to this.

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What do I do?

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Well, just stick your
finger in this thimble.

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It won't bite.

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OK.

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The thimble is suspended
by a jointed aluminum arm

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just above the disc.

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At first it's quite lifeless.

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OK, I'm ready.

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But when Thomas activates it--

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Now what?

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--and for now he still
has to use a keyboard,

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it springs into life.

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Whoa.

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Good grief, it's alive.

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I quickly find that although I'm
free to move my finger anywhere

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I want, if I push down
I meet resistance.

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It feels as if I have run
into a hard, smooth surface.

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And then towards the
back I hit something.

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A wall?

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Try moving your finger up here.

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I can't move it any
further in that direction.

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It's because I've
programmed a wall there.

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Only thing is there's
nothing really there.

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It feels so solid.

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I mean, the amazing
thing is I feel

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as if I should be
able to see this but,

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there's nothing there.

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Nothing but the phantom.

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Now, I know this looks
really suspicious.

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You're probably sitting
there thinking, oh, yeah.

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He's just got his finger in
a thimble, pushing it around.

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Well, yeah.

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That is partly true, but
there's a lot more to it.

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The amazing thing
about phantom is

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that when I push with my finger
the thimble actually pushes

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back, like an
invisible force field

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that I can feel
through my finger.

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And it's such a
powerful sensation

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that you can virtually
imagine these phantom objects.

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Maybe you'll be more convinced
by this demonstration.

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Now, instead of
an invisible wall,

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my finger encounters
some phantom buttons.

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But this time as I touch
each button its image

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pops up on the screen.

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What's more, they actually
switch on and off.

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And I can feel the click
through my fingertip.

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Amazing.

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If I had my eyes shut
I'd swear they were real.

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So how does it work?

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Fantastic.

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How can a computer possibly
convey the sensation of touch?

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The secret is these
black cylinders

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on phantom's metal arm.

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They look like big hinges,
but they're actually

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powerful electric motors
controlled by the computer.

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They're instructed to
exert a variable force

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on your fingertip.

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So when you hit what
feels like a wall,

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it's really just these
motors stopping your finger

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from going any further.

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There, yeah.

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Depending on how the
motors are programmed,

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it creates the illusion
of touching objects

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like slippery surfaces, bouncing
balls, or what about something

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much more complex
like living flesh?

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There's actually an
eye floating here--

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Oh.

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--looking in this direction.

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That's great.

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One of the toughest things for
anyone wanting to be a surgeon

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is getting enough experience.

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How do you know what
it feels like to make

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an incision in a living person
without actually operating

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on them?

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Thomas has already seen
a role here for phantom

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and has produced a couple of
touch and feel simulations.

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In this particular
program we are

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going to recreate the
feeling of performing a brain

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tumor biopsy.

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Oooh.

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So I'm going to pick
the path for a needle

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to go into the patient.

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Gosh.

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Now you can see on the screen
the red represents the needle.

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And I'm touching the outer
layer, the skin tissue

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right now.

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And the phantom is resisting me.

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And as I apply a
force, eventually I'll

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overcome a threshold.

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Ouch.

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And now I've already
punctured this layer.

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And I will encounter
further layers

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as I keep pushing the
needle into the brain.

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The trick here for the
surgeon, and what's

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so hard to learn
sometimes, is how much

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pressure to apply before
enough is too much.

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It's likely that phantom will
make its commercial debut

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with medical programs
like this one.

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Subtract A, B, and C and--

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Meanwhile Thomas
and his colleagues,

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led by Ken Salisbury, are well
into planning the next stage

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of phantom's evolution--

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a multi finger version
that will allow

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you to hold virtual objects.

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And that'll bring a world
of tactile experiences

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within our grasp.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Imagine, for
instance, a collection

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of rare and precious
objects like this one.

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Instead of it being for
your eyes only using phantom

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you could actually reach out
and touch the untouchable.

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And it wouldn't
even matter if you--

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[DISH BREAKING]

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--accidentally
dropped something.

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What's more, by storing
the feel of those artifacts

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within a computer they could
be within the reach of anybody

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anywhere in the world.

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Short [INAUDIBLE].

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Without a sense of
touch virtual reality

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will always remain
at arm's length.

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That's why phantom
has so much potential.

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It's bound to make
a name for itself.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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