An exhibition in London looked at how digital touch technologies could reconnect a person in care with their loved ones

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Touch is a fundamental part of human interaction. Even when our communication is mitigated by technology, as it so frequently is nowadays, it’s often via some sort of touchscreen. But as far as physical interaction with other human beings in the same space, some people think we’re living through a crisis of touch, especially when it comes to older people.

In the UK half a million older people go at least five days a week without coming into contact with anyone at all.



So can sensory technologies help older people and people in care by enhancing connections between them and their loved ones?



Or, in focusing on creating these cool new technologies, do we run the risk of distracting from what people really need – the human touch?

This week, Jordan Erica Webber takes a tour of the Bloomsbury Gallery, where Remote Contact , an exhibition produced by Invisible Flock took place.

She also talks to Prof Carey Jewitt who led the ERC research project that inspired the exhibition, and the director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, Prof Sethu Vijayakumar.