A VR Haptic Glove Without The Glove
French start-up Go Touch VR are working on a new type of haptic feedback controller.
Virtual reality (VR) is all about immersion. To truly feel as though the user is present in the virtual location, there should be as few reminders of the ‘real world’ as possible. Standard controllers can break that sense of immersion, tracked motion controllers help, but for the best experience, many firms are working on haptic control gloves. Then there is Go Touch VR, who thinks haptic motion control should be possible without the glove.
Go Touch VR are a French start-up who are working on an innovative solution for VR haptic controllers by stripping away the actual glove and leaving just the haptic feedback. The current form of the VR Touch is a small motor in a plastic case that attaches to the user’s finger, looking somewhat like the monitoring devices that get clipped to patient’s fingers in hospitals. The device is modular and up to three of the devices can be worn by a single user.
Tracking works by using a Leap Motion attached to the front of an Oculus Rift headset and the Go Touch also contains an Inertial Measurement Unit or IMU for better finger tracking. The demos currently available allow users to push buttons, play a xylophone or the drums, with the device offering a type of ‘push’ feedback more like what you would feel when pressing down on an object that the rumble feedback commonly found on controllers like the PlayStation Dual Shock.
When asked about why the Go Touch was designed the way it was, CEO Eric Vezzoli said: “With a glove you need different sizes, you need to wash it, you have to wear it, you could have breathability issues in the summer,” Vezzoli told us. “Also a glove you have to put it on, with this we are working to get to less than one second to get it on.”
The product is still in early prototype at the moment, but Vezzoli and his team are hoping to have 100 developer kits available by September.