Imagine sitting on a rough, sandstone boulder, watching as the sun sets and the moons rise behind a huge volcanic crater and feeling the cold breezes of an arid atmosphere on your skin. You are experiencing the surface of Mars, in real time—from your couch. Imagine you are a naval Captain whose ship in the Pacific requires a highly specific technical repair, and you are able to connect with the most skilled naval welder remotely, as they wield the tools that balance sight, sound, touch, and technical execution safely from their office in America’s steel belt. Picture the young deployed soldier, able to gently stroke the whorl of hair on their newborn baby’s head from half a world away.
The ability to fully inhabit and interact with the physical and virtual world through HFI technologies has groundbreaking applications across healthcare, education, gaming, and military sectors.