500+ free-roam venues with happy operators! –
The Touch is an innovative experience that combines virtual reality with haptic technology, opening on September 20 at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.
This unique VR experience allows visitors to wear advanced TouchDIVER Pro haptic gloves and physically explore the surface of Mars. Participants will work together to solve scientific puzzles in a 30-minute escape game.
The Touch offers several key features:
This exhibit sets a new standard for interactive science communication at Milan’s National Museum of Science and Technology.
The Touch invites you into a 30-minute cooperative escape game set on the rugged terrain of Mars. This group VR adventure is designed for 2 to 4 players who must work in sync to navigate the challenges of a Martian mission. You will literally touch the surface of Mars, feeling its textures and resistance through advanced haptic gloves while engaging in scientific problem-solving.
The gameplay revolves around solving scientific puzzles that require both virtual and physical clues. One player becomes immersed in the virtual environment, collecting rock samples and analyzing data directly from the Martian landscape. Meanwhile, teammates collaborate from outside the VR space, using manuals and tangible materials to interpret findings and support the mission. This setup emphasizes teamwork and communication, making it essential for players to coordinate their actions closely.
Your group’s objective is clear: analyze samples, troubleshoot rover malfunctions, and piece together evidence that could uncover signs of life on Mars. The experience blends immersive technology with hands-on collaboration to create an intense, educational journey where every decision counts.
The Touch transforms traditional escape games by integrating tactile sensations with scientific inquiry, offering a unique way for the public to engage deeply with planetary exploration.
The Touch experience relies on TouchDIVER Pro haptic gloves, an innovative product developed by the start-up WEART. These multimodal feedback gloves deliver tactile sensations that mimic real-world interactions, allowing you to feel textures, resistance, and temperature variations of virtual objects. Each glove contains six actuation points—one for each finger and the palm—enabling precise and nuanced physical feedback that enhances immersion.
Paired with the Meta Quest 3 VR visor, the system provides controller-free hand tracking within a 3×3 meter free-movement area. This integration lets you move naturally and interact seamlessly with digital elements without bulky equipment or handheld controllers. The visor’s advanced sensors capture fine hand gestures, making your virtual actions fluid and intuitive.
This combination of haptic feedback gloves and VR headset bridges the gap between the virtual and physical worlds. It transforms digital objects from mere visual representations into tangible items you can manipulate, grasp, and explore. Scientific puzzles in The Touch become not only visible challenges but sensory experiences, deepening engagement through realistic touch sensations. This leap in technology pushes beyond traditional VR limits, making Mars not just something you see—but something you truly touch.
The Touch invites you to step into the year 2040, joining a Mars mission simulation set in the Jezero crater—an area of high interest for its potential signs of primitive life. This immersive experience places you and your team in the role of explorers tasked with uncovering crucial evidence on the Red Planet.
This combination of factual science and inventive narrative makes The Touch more than just an escape game. It becomes a vivid portal into Mars exploration, where you physically interact with the planet’s surface, analyze realistic rock samples, and navigate challenges that echo real-life space missions. The experience debuts Sept. 20 at Milan’s National Museum of Science and Technology, providing visitors a unique opportunity to touch Mars using advanced haptic technology.
The Touch exemplifies science education through play, turning complex space science into an accessible and engaging experience. Visitors are not passive observers but active participants who engage directly with Martian geology and mission challenges. This interactive museum exhibit creates a dynamic learning environment where players absorb scientific concepts naturally by solving puzzles and collaborating.
Using play as a medium breaks down barriers to science education, making it appealing across age groups and backgrounds while providing a memorable and meaningful encounter with cutting-edge planetary research.
The Touch stands out due to the close collaboration with experts who ensured scientific authenticity and museum alignment.
This expert collaboration enriches The Touch by blending cutting-edge science with immersive play, enhancing credibility while inviting visitors into a scientifically grounded Mars adventure.
Experience The Touch, an experience between virtual and haptic reality, debuting September 20 at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. You can book tickets starting September 4 through the Fever platform, ensuring your place in this groundbreaking group VR adventure.
Key details include:
The experience combines National Museum admission Milan with an interactive Mars mission where you’ll wear TouchDIVER Pro haptic gloves to physically engage with Martian terrain while solving scientific puzzles. Booking early through the Fever platform guarantees access to this innovative escape game that blends education, technology, and teamwork.
Luca Roncella, museum gaming director, shares a vision where haptics extend well beyond entertainment. This technology has the power to transform how cultural experiences are delivered and accessed:
Haptic feedback can support therapies by recreating tactile sensations, helping patients regain sensory functions through immersive exercises.
By integrating haptics, museums and cultural spaces can become more accessible to visitors with disabilities, offering new ways to experience exhibits through touch.
Haptics enable creators and designers to interact with virtual prototypes as if they were physical objects, speeding innovation and improving user experience.
Roncella emphasizes that haptics will redefine interaction within digital environments. It’s a tool not only for seeing or hearing but for feeling culture, science, and art in ways never before possible. This shift opens doors to diverse forms of engagement that blend education, accessibility, and sensory connection into one seamless experience.
The Touch, an experience between virtual and haptic reality, debuts Sept. 20 at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. This pioneering exhibit invites you to engage in virtual exploration Mars surface like never before. Using the advanced TouchDIVER Pro haptic gloves, you will physically feel Mars’ textures while solving scientific puzzles in a collaborative 30-minute adventure.
Visiting The Touch means stepping into the future of museum experiences where technology and education merge seamlessly.
