How We Sense the World

Speaker Dr. Robert Crockett is a longtime Cal Poly biomedical engineering professor, former interim dean of the College of Engineering, entrepreneur, and co-founder of HaptX, which develops technology for physically interacting with virtual environments. You may have seen his inventions and research in the news or on Adam Savage’s Tested.

The event will be hosted by InCider curator Dr. Troy Hiduke Campbell, a researcher, former Disney Imagineer, and behavioral science professor who studies the psychology of feelings and experiences.

The latest science of the human senses — and what we learn about them when we recreate them virtually

We’re taught that humans have five senses. The reality is far more interesting, and our understanding of those senses is still evolving.

So on October 10th, come join Dr. Robert Crockett for a tour through the biological systems that allow us to see, touch, move through space, and experience the world around us — including senses you may not know you have, and how senses like touch are much more complicated than we think.

Dr. Crockett brings a unique perspective to the study of human senses. In both his research and businesses, he has developed technology for recreating senses in virtual reality, most famously through his HaptX gloves, which have all kinds of applications for safety, learning, and radically new forms of gaming.

But as a scientist, what excites Robert most about this research is something more basic: when we try to recreate our senses in the virtual world, we come to better understand what our human senses actually are.

Come out for a tour of your own body, demos with technology, and just a really fun time with one of Cal Poly’s longtime and most beloved professors.

Please RSVP as soon as possible. Please let us know if you can’t make it!