Rapid development and improvement of devices for VR can completely immerse you in virtual worlds. Despite this success, research is currently underway to improve the tactile sensations when using virtual reality. The developers are trying to find opportunities so that you get the feeling of a real touch to an object not only through your hands but also with this body.
More recently, it was announced that developers of VR gloves, HaptX, received $ 1.5 million in sponsorship from NSF to develop consumer foot and hand systems. These technologies will take several years to develop.
Earlier, the ForceBot development was created by the HaptX organization together with specialists from the Institute of Technology. It can solve questions about improving the tactility of devices, as well as contribute to the development of an automated exoskeleton and microfluidic feedback. The main objective of this project is to provide users with the opportunity to go beyond the sensation of virtual objects. Also, it is planned to give consumers the ability to move around the digital world and feel both passive and active restrictions on their manipulations. For starters, the developers plan to introduce an innovative system by pre-teaching skills and controlling their movements in virtual reality. It will be necessary to sharpen the response to emergencies and abrupt changes in the digital space.
Shortly, VR design will be a real breakthrough in the technological world, because this system causes an unusual stir among consumers and has a striking effect on the audience. Virtual, mixed, or augmented reality devices will become the undisputed leaders in the technology race for the coming decades.
Previously, the HaptX company was engaged in the production of commercial tactile gloves for corporations that were doing VR research. They studied ways to reduce and completely erase the gap between the virtual and real world. Not so long ago, the corporation began to create gloves for Nissan cars, which will be necessary for developers to design cars in VR. HaptX is also partnering with FundamentalVR to create special surgical gloves that doctors need to perform surgery simulations.
The active development of virtual technologies implies the emergence of ultra-new innovations in the system that can amaze even the most sophisticated user. For example, it is already possible to touch the object that you see in the digital world, you can catch a ball flying towards you or any other object. ForceBot's developments strive to recreate the most realistic tactile sensation. Imagine walking on a virtual beach and feeling wet sand and water.
Undoubtedly, we find it difficult to believe that the average user of VR technologies will want to purchase expensive equipment and put on special ammunition in the form of a suit to convey tactile sensations before each game. No one can be sure of the success of this development, but research on this technology is very useful for the scientific world.
NSF is sponsoring this project to get information on how it is possible to improve the system of haptic perception in virtual reality. Also, the company is interested in possible methods of improving the connection between artificial intelligence and the consumer. That is why HaptX creates projects to create robotic avatars that will be operated by humans. This will allow you to get the maximum effect of being present in the virtual world, as well as contribute to enhancing tactile sensations while playing or working.
The HaptX Corporation mentioned that it has long been planning to develop a more complete tactile experience while using virtual reality. They wanted to create not only gloves for a tactile sensation in the user's hands, but also use all parts of the body for maximum immersion in the digital world. Old recordings and photographs of the company's early developments were shown, which show prototypes of the exoskeletons of the legs and everything.
It remains to be seen whether these conceptual developments will be used to create the most tactile devices, or whether they will be modified.
