When physical contact and meetings are impossible, either through distance or health measures, then seeing family, friends and colleagues via digital devices like mobile phones and video calls is the next best thing.

It is, however, far from perfect, not least because the sense of touch is missing. A Chinese scientist is now working to ensure that hugging loved ones that are far away may one day be possible, adding a tactile dimension to the video calls we have all become used to making.

Hou Zhanwei is hoping to develop a way of allowing users to experience touch over the internet one day.

The International Telecommunication Union, based in Geneva, Switzerland, describes this technology as the "tactile internet", a network that combines ultra-low latency with extremely high availability, reliability and security.

Latency, in computing terms, is the delay between a user's action and the time it takes to be transmitted or reproduced.

The 33-year-old scientist, born in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei province, became a researcher specializing in electrical and information engineering at the University of Sydney's Centre for Internet of Things and Telecommunications in 2019.