A haptic framework for the study of inter-molecular interactions

The science of haptics has received a great attention in the last decade in the field of simulation and training. In particular, haptics can be introduced as a novel technology to make students feel sensations not directly experienceable in the real world and typically only reported as notions in textbooks. In this work, we present a haptically-enhanced framework for the tactile exploration of molecules: it has been introduced in a chemistry course to explain several concepts related to inter-molecular interactions. After a brief description of the architecture of the developed system, the paper describes how it has been introduced in the usual didactic activity. Users' feedbacks and impressions are reported as result of this innovation in teaching.