PITCH 2016 Profiles: HapSys

On Thursday, April 28th we attended PITCH 2016 hosted by NORCAT  and it was a really great event! There were four companies pitching – Hexic Monitoring Systems, FORMid, REPerformance, and HapSys. All four pitches were really interesting and it was great to see so much innovation in one room! We are already looking forward to attending next year’s event.

Today we are introducing you to Kacey Cayen, the brilliant mind behind HapSys. Kacey has a Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour with a minor in Biology from McMaster University. He is currently on a leave of absence from the Masters of Computational Science program at Laurentian University and working on building HapSys!

Tell us more about HapSys Technology!

We have seen in recent years the rise of commercial virtual reality (VR) technology with the aim of creating a more immersive user experience. There are products for immersive visual experiences with head mounted displays, auditory experiences with surround sound, and kinesthetic experiences with omni directional treadmills. What is missing from this new VR ecosystem is immersive haptic technology.

Our haptic technology allows users to feel more complex and appropriate tactile feedback. The HapSys shirt can give users hundreds of distinct perceived points of pressure as well as movement of the perceived points to create tactile images such as geometric shapes and patterns. The technology allows for a far richer tactile experience than anything ever offered before.

Imagine you’re in a virtual sword fight and you get slashed across your torso. With the current technology, all you would feel is vibration or an impact. What HapSys technology would allow you to feel is a line of pressure moving across your torso in the exact same area the sword hit. This is the result of our proprietary algorithm. Or imagine you’re playing a first-person shooter, you could feel the exact area you were shot which would allow you to better gauge the location of the shooter, facilitating gameplay and increasing immersion. The current technology offers tactile feedback on a very vague point of contact. HapSys technology aims to change that, to realistically emulate the exact points of contact on the body of the user.

How did you get involved in PITCH 2016?

I heard about Pitch 2016 back in February when they were looking for applicants and thought it would be a good opportunity for myself and my business. Luckily, I was chosen and began the process of putting together the pitch.

What inspired the idea for your business?

I got good feedback from people while I was developing the technology in grad school and decided to take the leap and start my own company.

What’s the next step for your business?

The next step for my business is to build the next iteration of the electronics for the HapSys Shirt. It’ll make the HapSys Shirt wireless and more robust. Once we do some user testing with that version and we clear up any bugs, we’ll start planning the Kickstarter.