Several awards were presented at IEEE Haptics Symposium 2026 to recognize outstanding contributions across the conference and the journal. Honors were given for IEEE Haptics Symposium technical long papers, technical regular papers, and demonstrations. Commendations were also conferred for outstanding reviewing of technical paper submissions. In addition, IEEE Transactions on Haptics presented its annual paper, application paper, associate editor, and reviewer awards.
The details of each award appear below. All winners were announced during the awards ceremony on April 1, 2026.
Eleven contributions were published as technical long papers. The IEEE Haptics Symposium 2026 Editorial Board nominated five papers for this award based on the strength of their reviews.
A committee of five experts reviewed the nominated papers, reviews, and oral presentations. They selected one Best Paper, one Distinguished Paper, and one Honorable Mention.
Thermal and Tactile Integration in Human Liquid Perception Using Viscous Solutions and Visible Light
Junjie Hua, Sosuke Ichihashi, Hsin-Ni Ho
Language-Guided Multimodal Texture Authoring via Generative Models
Wanli Qian, Aiden Chang, Shihan Lu, Michael Gu, Heather Culbertson
Lack of disembodiment influences perceptual sensitivity of virtual brush illusion paradigm
Lyndah Lovell, Ethan Brown, Sarah Derrick, Mohit Singhala, Jeremy Brown
Twenty-five contributions were published as technical regular papers. The IEEE Haptics Symposium 2026 Editorial Board nominated seven papers for this award based on the strength of their reviews.
A committee of four experts reviewed the nominated papers, reviews, and oral presentations. They selected one Best Paper, one Distinguished Paper, and one Honorable Mention.
Temporal Integration Underlying Extrapolation of Thermal Sensation
Junjie Hua, Masahiro Furukawa, Taro Maeda
Active Vibrotactile Frequency Discrimination Under Exploration Constraints and Spatial Separation
Mounia Ziat, Junjie Hua, Jose James, Thaer Burgan
Pneumatic Suction for Haptic Sensory Substitution Feedback at the Fingertip during Telemanipulation
Jiaji Su, Irene R. Bhunia, Zonghe Chua
Twenty contributions were accepted. All the accepted and exhibited demonstrations were considered by the committee.
A committee of five experts reviewed all of the demonstrations. They selected one Best Demonstration, one Distinguished Demonstration, and one Honorable Mention.
MAGTRACE: Electromagnetic Shape Rendering Via a User-Driven Linear Exploration Platform
Sarah Costrell, Roberta L. Klatzky, Melisa Orta Martinez
Demonstrating Differential Dual-Side Fingertip Actuation for Virtual Reality Force Feedback
Yanjun Chen, Jung-Hwan Youn, and Craig Shultz
A Virtual Reality System for the Delivery of Virtual Equine Therapy
Nicholas C. Schneider, Mathias A. Schoen, I. Francesca Zeringue, Edoardo Battaglia
The Haptics Symposium publication process critically depends on careful and constructive expert review of submitted manuscripts. The conference recognizes reviewers whose efforts made an especially strong contribution to the quality of the technical program.
Can a Machine Feel Vibrations?: Predicting Roughness and Emotional Responses to Vibration Tactons via a Neural Network
Chungman Lim, Gyeongdeok Kim, Su-Yeon Kang, Hasti Seifi, Gunhyuk Park
HapticGiant: A Novel Very Large Kinesthetic Haptic Interface With Hierarchical Force Control
Michael Fennel, Markus Walker, Dominik Pikos, Uwe D. Hanebeck
The Awards Chair, the members of the Awards Committee, the Program Committee, the Editorial Board, and the Organizing Committee heartily congratulate all awardees on their outstanding work. Many thanks to everyone for contributing to a very successful IEEE Haptics Symposium 2026!