Published , by Brittany Vincent
Published , by Brittany Vincent
Virtual reality is awesome and all, but there are still things that it could improve on, such as additional haptic feedback. That's what makes these new haptic gloves such an interesting prospect.
Researchersat École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich are hard at work on a new lightweight haptic feedback glove known as DextrES that can be used in VR applications. What's so cool about it? It makes you feel as though you're actually holding something in real life, just like you are in the game or application you're currently engaged with in VR!
The glove's material is just 2mm thick, with all its components weighing about 8 grams per finger. It's small, but powerful, and only needs a few milliwatts to function. The nylon glove itself has thin elastic metal strips the go over the fingertips. When someone grips something in VR, there's a different set of voltage that charges the metal pieces and makes them stick together, which gives the illusion of holding something. It sounds very, very cool, to be honest.
Of course, the project is still in its early stages right now, so it's nowhere near close to being complete, but these companies are doing important research when it comes to making virtual reality feel just a little more real...in all the ways that they can, anyway.