Found in many novels like “Snow Crash” or “Ready Player One”, haptic gloves are an inseparable part of the VR set. The ability to touch and feel in the digital world is slowly becoming a holy grail. Those who should claim it will become one of the leading tech companies.
Recent Meta video showing their new haptic gloves spiced the competition even more. After 7 years of development Meta finally decided to share some of their secrets. Gloves work thanks to around 15 actuators – inflatable plastic bubbles, that create the sensation of touching. If Meta would be able to fit thousands of those actuators in a glove the sensation would be almost indistinguishable. The device also possesses standard VR chips to let the camera track your every move. Combining gloves with Quest 2 – VR headset, gives a really strong impression of full immersion being just around the corner. Inventors say that our brain is really good at combining various senses. Seeing an object, and touching it is enough for our brain to even enhance this experience. What’s more Meta plans to develop the first high-speed microfluid processor. This will allow controlling air flow that moves the actuators.
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Since Meta is not the first one to build this kind of device there have been different approaches. One of which presents company HaptX. Their idea is to use an electromagnetic solution. In the core, you can find a coil that creates an electromagnetic field, which is picked up by small sensors in each finger. Mixing this with actuators creates a very strong level of reality. The big thing is that HaptX gloves have force feedback. Your fingers will get blocked in a position they normally would if you were to grab any object. You can feel the resistance of objects that are made digitally.
Haptic gloves still have a long way to go. Both companies are working on creating a better and better experience with lower and lower costs. Right now the estimated price of these gloves is around 23 000 USD. Not a lot of people would afford it. Also, there is still some work to be done in aspects of weight or overall design. Those are still prototypes, it will take some time before we see them in the customers market.
Here you can see haptic gloves in work:
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEJWSPfFXmw&t=514s
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/16/22782860/meta-facebook-reality-labs-soft-robotics-haptic-glove-prototype
https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/11/17/22787191/facebook-meta-haptic-glove-metaverse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5WzF1ch3ww
https://about.fb.com/news/2021/11/reality-labs-haptic-gloves-research/
Virtual Reality is a great medium that is constantly developing. I wouldn’t be surprised if VR became the mainstream within the next couple of years.
This is astonishing technology! Sure, it’s mostly developed for gaming, but if we would also look at the possibility of professional development the impact could be revolutionary. Doctors, veterinarians, and even chefs could train with such gloves, which would definitely help increase yield for such needed professions.