VRgluv passed the 50% funding mark in less than 24 hours on their Kickstarter page, with 28 days still to go. The product is described as the “first affordable force feedback gloves” that feature “total hand tracking, full force feedback, and pressure sensitivity”.
Going live on March 31st, VRgluv’s website revealed their haptic gloves, compatible with both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift hardware, said to be comfortable, functional, and affordable (despite looking rather clunky). An appealing $300 price point (relatively speaking) for the Super Early Bird is the likely reason for the rapid influx of early backers and, being limited to 100 backers, is already sold out. The next tier at $350 is limited to 200 sets, followed by a ‘Kickstarter special’ price at $400, with the final retail price expected to be $580.
As shown in the Kickstarter video, different adapters allow for Oculus Touch controllers, HTC Vive controllers or Vive Trackers to clip to the sides of the gloves to perform the spatial tracking duties, with the gloves containing proprietary technology to determine finger positions and grip strength. Ideally, Vive Trackers would be used—being the least-bulky attachment to what is already a chunky pair of gloves—although VRgluv describes the units as ‘lightweight’, and the adapters are said to be carefully designed to hold each tracking solution in the most balanced position.
VRgluv is one of several devices in development that provide a haptic feedback solution for hand interaction in VR. Others include the EXOS, the Dexmo exoskeleton, the temperature-changing Senso and PowerClaw, the Gloveone and Avatar VR from NeuroDigital Technologies, and more. As the haptics challenge is being approached from so many different angles, it’s difficult to predict if one product will rise to the top; this area of VR development is likely to remain experimental and niche, although VRgluv’s price is impressive considering the low volume, wireless technology, rechargeable batteries, and the likely high number of mechanical components involved.
VRgluv is aiming to deliver the first sets to customers in December 2017.
A patent application filed today by Oculus indicates the Facebook-owned virtual reality team is researching new kinds of hand controllers.
The company’s current solution for bringing your hands with you into a VR experience is Oculus Touch. According to this site, Touch is the best VR hand tracking system available for consumer purchase today. However, this new patent demonstrates that Oculus is not content to rest upon those laurels and is currently working to design newer and more powerful VR hand controllers. This particular patent is for:
“A control for a virtual reality (VR) system contacting areas of user’s body is comprised of one or more materials having different stiffnesses at different positions of the control. In various embodiments, portions of the control contacting an area of the user’s body with a relatively limited range of motion comprise stiffly woven material to limit movement of the control. Conversely, portions of the control contacting an area of the user’s body with a relatively larger range or motion comprise softly woven material to allow the control to more easily move as the corresponding area of the user’s body moves.”
The basic idea for this patent seems to be for a glove with different amounts of rigidity at certain key points. Unfortunately, the sole drawing submitted with this patent doesn’t shed too much light on the concept of this particular idea.
We’ve seen claw-like exoskeletons in the past meant to pull back the fingers in precise ways to simulate grasping objects. Gloves are also being pursued as well to perform finger tracking. Many of these devices, however, are merely concepts or are either expensive and require careful calibration to use. Steps forward in hand tracking and haptics will take much effort to refine, and the inventors of this idea are listed as living in Washington. That’s where the Oculus research lab is that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently visited to tease advanced hand tracking. So this single idea is likely part of the much larger effort underway at Facebook’s Oculus to advance hand tracking.
Like all patents, take this one with a grain of salt. It’s not clear whether or not we will ever see this idea realized in a final project. However, we can say for certain that Oculus is continuing, at least in some capacity, to develop new hand control technologies for VR.
Was fehlt noch um das Erdkunden der virtuellen Realität noch glaubwürdiger und immersiver zu machen? Haptik, das Gefühl Objekte „richtig“ in den Händen zu halten, klingt zwar wie eine Errungenschaft die noch in der Zukunft liegt, doch jetzt nicht mehr. Mit Tactical Haptics soll es möglich sein. Die Kollegen von uploadvr haben sich mal dieses vielversprechendes Stück Technik genauer angesehen, hier ihr Erfahrungsbericht.
„Eindrucksvolle VR Haptik ist bereits auf ihren Weg und könnte 2018 in deinem Wohnzimmer sein“ so Joe Durbin. In dem Interview mit dem Präsidenten von Tactical Haptics, William Provancher, wird auch nochmal genauer erklärt wie der Controller dem Spieler ein Gefühl von Haptik gibt. Die Stelle wo der Controller in die Hand genommen wird verfügt über drei Plastikteile, die sich unabhängig voneinander auf und ab bewegen. Durch die Bewegung der Plastikteile entsteht bei uns das Gefühl etwas in den Händen zu halten, egal ob Elastisch oder fest.
Wie man in dem Video unten sehen kann, scheint Tactical Haptics genau das zu erfüllen was es verspricht. Selbst mit geschlossenen Augen kann man den virtuellen Gegenstand fühlen, wie es in der Luft umher schwingt. Jedoch scheint die Technik noch nicht die Marktreife erreicht zu haben, denn als Provancher nach einem offiziellen Veröffentlichungsdatum gefragt wurde antwortete er mit: „anfänglich zielten wir die Feiertage dieses Jahr an, jedoch ist es offensichtlich das wir das nicht schaffen werden. Es ist möglich, dass wir es 2018 veröffentlichen.“
Anders als im Video zu sehen war, kann man die mit den aktuellen Tactical Haptics Controller nicht nur einen, sondern zwei verwenden. So könnte man z.B. das Gefühl nachstellen etwas Schweres mit beiden Händen zu ziehen. Auf jeden Fall ist diese Art von Technik etwas, das man im Auge behalten sollte, denn technische Fortschritte wie diese sorgen dafür, dass noch mehr mit den Möglickeiten rumexperimentiert wird und am Ende die gesamt VR-Branche davon profitiert und noch tiefer und realistischer in die virtuellen Welten eintauchen können.
The first time I tried a Tactical Haptics virtual reality controller was at GDC 2016. I wasn’t expecting much. The idea of believable haptics in VR seemed like something we wouldn’t be getting for a long time. From the moment that controller was in my hand, however, I knew I’d made a miscalculation. Impressive VR haptics are already on their way and could be in your living room in 2018.
I recently had the chance to speak with William Provancher, the president of Tactical Haptics, on the floor at SVVR. I asked him outright when customers might be able to purchase a set of TH controllers for themselves. According to Provancher “we were initially targeting holiday of this year but it’s become clear we aren’t going to make that. It’s possible we could release in Q1 of 2018 but we also might want to wait until the holiday season.”
Pronvancher also said his company will begin sending out the first round of developer kits to a very small (single digit) number of early testers. From there the rollout plan is to release more dev kits, around a thousand, and finally push a commercial release. No matter what happens, however, Provancher says he fully expects the TH system to remain a “niche” product.
As we chatted I was observing the latest, most advanced prototype of the TH control system to date. Previously, only one controller at a time could contain all the haptic hardware this studio is packing in to its devices. Now, however, both your hands can get the full experience. This has led to new sensation possibilities like tensile resistance (think pulling a strong piece of taffy with both hands).
The TH controllers are now also using Vive Trackers for tracking instead of strapping a full Vive controller like they were at last year’s GDC.
According to Provancher, the basic components of the TH controllers are largely the same as what I saw a year ago. The focus lately has been getting both controllers ready to go and perfecting Unity and Unreal Engine integrations. With these integrations, developers building VR games could start to take advantage of the TH controllers.
Haptic feedback has been relegated mostly to basic vibrations in this first generation of high-end, commercial VR. The TH system, on the other hand, is able to replicate a myriad of sensations and various forms of resistance.
Provancher did not say what price TH controllers would sell for.
Google shocked the tech world with the April 1 announcement of yet another landmark achievement in the emerging field of virtual reality. Google’s VR team brought immersive experiences to the masses with Cardboard. It built upon that initial success with more advanced headsets such as Daydream and groundbreaking platforms like Tango. Today, Google is changing the game for VR yet again. From this point forward nothing will ever be the same.
Say hello to Haptic Helpers.
Haptic Helpers represents a landmark bio-mechanical solution that vastly improves VR interaction. Combining the limitless creativity of the human mind with a carefully curated arsenal of bleeding-edge immersive tools, Haptic Helpers have become the last word in total virtual presence. In Google’s own words:
We’re taking VR to the next level with Haptic Helpers. Using a modest set of everyday tools, these VR virtuosos can simulate more than 10,000 unique experiences, all from the comfort of your own home. Smell the roses. Listen to the ocean. Feel a fluffy dog!
We’ve recently begun in-home user tests and are now seeking additional trusted testers. Interested? Sign up now.
UploadVR was lucky enough to be sent an early build for the Haptic Helper system. As you can see from the below images, this technology is nothing like what we’ve seen before.
There’s what appears to be some sort of hydro-pressurized aquatic immersion system, a packet of combustible aromatics that somehow turn heat into a portable scent replication system, and a frighteningly powerful handgun-stye device that’s able to increase the temperature of the air itself (make sure to keep that one away from any small children).
These are the official specs for the first generation of the Haptic Helper Developer Kit:
Height: 6’2’’
Width: fluctuates, especially around the holiday season.
Processor: Human Brain
Battery: this model runs only on a combination of water and a variety of consumable goods, most of which can be found in an average person’s refrigerator.
Battery life: 4-6 hours for optimal performance. 3 days or so until it dies completely.
Ports: Redacted
In a world-first exclusive, UploadVR also had the chance to speak with the first Haptic Helper DK1 himself.
Founded in 1993, Immersion Corp. designs and licenses haptic technology that’s come to be used in gamepads you’re well familiar with. Now the company is developing a new haptic programming system which aims to help game developers make better haptics effects for their games, faster.
The latest generation of VR controllers use more advanced haptics than the basic rumble that you find in today’s gamepads. But if you’ve played much VR, you’ve probably found that the capabilities of these haptics have gone largely underutilized by a wide swath of today’s VR games.
Immersion Corp. says this is because programming haptic effects is hard, and today it generally involves code-level input of values like amplitude, frequency, and time signatures in order to trigger the haptics inside of a controller. Now the company says they’ve made a better way, thanks to the TouchSense Force plugin (and API) which makes the creation of haptic effects into a much more intuitive visual process.
Rather than coding specific timing, amplitude, and frequency values, TouchSense Force (launching initially for UE4) creates a ‘clip’-based timeline interface which will be instantly familiar to anyone who has edited audio or video files. The timeline allows developers to pull an animation into the system, very easily design haptic effects that are finely tuned to the animation, and play those effects back with the animation on the fly for testing and tweaking.
So instead of a reloading gun animation just causing a simple rumble for a second or two, a developer using TouchSense Force could create a complex series of haptic effect clips that closely match every part of the animation for added realism.
Immersion Corp was demonstrating TouchSense Force at SVVR 2017 this week where they were showing an animation of a robotic glove enclosing the hand of a VR user (definitely not inspired by Iron Man’s suit-up scenes), which had a lot of intricate detail and moving parts.
In something like 10 minutes, according to the company, they were able to use the TouchSense Force plugin to design a series of varied effects which carefully synced to the activity on the glove; something which traditionally could have taken hours of careful tweaking. Trying the result for myself using a Rift headset and Touch controller, it was indeed very impressive, far beyond the level of haptic detail I’ve seen from any VR game to date.
Actually creating these effects with the plugin is completely essentially code-free. I have a basic understanding of audio editing and waveforms, and I very quickly understood the process of creating each effect; I’m confident I would be able to create my own using the plugin, which is pretty cool considering that I have no game development experience. That level of intuitivity means that creating such effects is easier and faster, and gives a huge level of control to developers. There’s hope that this will open the door to developers bringing much more attention to detail in their use of haptics for VR games.
And there’s a few other cool functions that Immersion Corp. is building into this tool. For one, if the animation ends up getting changed, the haptic effects can change with it automatically. This works by associating specific haptic clips to specific moments in the animation using UE4’s Notifies animation system. Because the animation and the haptic clips are linked, changing the animation will also change the playback timing of the haptic clips, which means developers can tweak the haptics and the animation independently without needing to repeat their work if they decide to make a tweak after the fact.
The plugin also offers cross-platform support, so that developers can author their haptic effects once, and have those effects play back as closely as possible on other controllers (which could even have different haptic technologies in them) without re-authoring for that controller’s own haptic API.
TouchSense Force is now available to select developers in early access as a UE4 plugin (you can sign up for access here). The pricing model is presently unannounced. The company says they also plan to make available a Unity plugin in Q3, and will release an API to allow integration of the same feature set into custom game engines. Presently the system supports Oculus Touch, Nintendo Switch, and unspecified “TouchSense Force-compatible hardware,” though we imagine the company is working to get Vive controllers integrated ASAP.
Sometimes, the simplest solutions are also the smartest. Go Touch VR’s approach to VR haptics achieves surprising effectiveness out of small, simple haptic devices that provide stimulation to the end of your fingers.
Call it “obvious,” but this is the first time I’ve seen Go Touch VR’s approach to VR haptics, which provides nothing more than a variable force against the top of your fingertip using a flat piece of piece of plastic that moves back and forth with a little motor. Simple, and yet surprisingly compelling. The sensation is much like what you feel when you press your finger against a flat surface like a desk.
While oldschool ERM rumble (like you’ll find in today’s gamepads) and more modern linear-actuator based rumble (like you’ll find in VR motion controllers) both offer various rumbling sensations as an added dimension of feedback to users on top of visual and audio cues. And while sometimes that rumble can be interpreted as direct feedback (ie: vibration caused by shooting a gun leads your hand to rumble), often times the haptic sensation is a bit more abstract than that, like feeling a rumble when you press a button; but pressing a button doesn’t exactly cause your hand to ‘rumble’ in real life, and thus the rumble in this case is abstract rather than direct (ie: it requires a level of interpretation from your brain to make the connection between the information being conveyed and the sensation).
And while rumble is widely applicable for that abstract approach, it seems best suited for shooting games if you want to make use of the more immersive direct approach. And yet in VR we find lots of experiences where you aren’t shooting, but are instead grabbing, touching, and manipulating objects in VR which wouldn’t vibrate in real life, making it difficult to use rumble to convey meaningful, direct feedback.
Photo by Road to VR
It’s that grabbing, touching, and manipulation where Go Touch VR’s ‘VR Touch‘ haptics hopes to excel. Based on what CEO Eric Vezzoli says is a ‘Real Contact Sensation’ haptic approach, VR Touch is a simple, compact device which straps to the end of your fingers and provides nothing more than a plastic pad which can exert varying levels of force against the top of your fingertip.
That force can create a surprisingly compelling sensation of touching and grabbing objects with your fingers. Rather than abstract rumble, VR Touch gives the illusion of objects pushing back against your fingers directly.
For non-controller VR input solutions like hand tracking, VR Touch fills the significant need of informing the user when they have actually initiated a ‘grab’ of a virtual object; having something that is not your own fingers to push back against your fingers as an indication of contact turns out to be far more immersive than the ‘air grab’, where you create a grabbing gesture with your hand, but have no idea if you are making the ‘correct’ contact with the virtual object because there’s no real object providing feedback to your fingers. This issue presently plagues non-controller VR input, and it’s one that VR Touch is poised to solve.
Photo by Road to VR
Demonstrating VR Touch haptics at SVVR 2017 this week, Go Touch VR showed the device in action using an Oculus Rift with attached Leap Motion for hand tracking. They placed three of the VR Touch units across my thumb, index, and middle fingers, secured with a small elastic band with velcro.
Through the series of demos, I found that the VR Touch haptics are great for things like pressing buttons and poking & grabbing objects.
Again, the key is providing useful feedback to indicate that your virtual fingers are interacting with the virtual objects. But it isn’t just useful; the sensation is a good stand-in for the forces you expect to feel and the places you expect to feel them. The direct nature of the feedback clicks instantly with your brain which expects to feel a force specifically against your fingertip whenever you touch something.
Among the demos I tried was an abstract usage of the feedback which attempted to convey the heat coming off of a small fire when I placed my hand over top of it. And while the feedback was useful from an informational standpoint (to tell me perhaps that the fire is dangerous), as you might expect, this use of the haptics was much less convincing because fire doesn’t actually push back against your hand.
I also tried using just one VR Touch unit instead of three, though I found that three was far more immersive.
For how small the VR Touch device is, I was actually surprised how much force it can apply; it easily provides enough force in its current state to emulate the sensations as you’d expect them when touching and holding small objects.
That’s not to say the device is ready for market however. The prototype VR Touch units I saw were 3D printed and hand-built. Still, the team says they can already last for two hours on a single charge (and my guess is that there’s more progress to be made there as the device matures). After about 10 minutes of use, the elastic band securing the units to my fingers caused a reduction in circulation which I could easily feel once I took them off. CEO Eric Vezzoli tells me that the final model will fix this by using materials which provide greater friction between the contact points of the device along your finger, allowing it to rely less on the elastic band to keep the device in place (indeed, the current 3D printed plastic was very smooth and offered little friction).
He also says that the final VR Touch form-factor is expected to become significantly more compact, and will smartly include a few physical controls on the device as well, like buttons, to aid in interaction.
Each unit is also planned to include its own IMU which can be fused with other tracking solutions to enhance the finger-level tracking necessary for VR Touch to work effectively. And while I saw VR Touch demoed using Leap Motion’s hand tracking, Vezzoli says the device can work across a number of tracking technologies, including integration into glove-based systems.
Haptic feedback is developing into an elusive achievement for the VR industry. Many different companies are attempting to harness the additional immersion haptics affords you within the VR platform, but nothing has caught on just yet. We recently reported on the EXOS glove which lets you feel your way through virtual spaces and even a rifle accessory that adds realistic recoil to VR shooters. A vest is a bit more involved of a haptics project and, over on Kickstarter, Nullspace VR wants their players to wear the Hardlight VR Suit and feel a virtual world all over.
The Hardlight VR Suit comes equipped with 16 positional haptic sensors and vibration nodes. With so many sources, the suit should be able to give accurate feedback depending on where you’re hit and even have the sensation travel across multiple nodes like if cut across the upper torso by a sword. The suit covers a lot more of the upper body than older haptic vest projects typically do, bringing feedback to shoulders, chest, arms, abdomen, and upper back. It also includes a tracking system that augments the experience a VR headset can provide by supplying limb positioning relative to the headset while measuring inertia.
Feedback vests aren’t a new development for the gaming industry. At every convention or expo for the last handful of years, you were likely to come across some company trying to recreate the sensation of being shot or the kinetic impact of a grenade exploding nearby. None of those stuck, but the market for that type of device was incredibly niche considering they’d still be used in conjunction with a fairly uninvolved gaming experience. The technology is still pretty niche now, but it is certainly less so considering it is being developed as a companion to a platform built on the immersion such a device aims to enhance.
The Hardlight VR suit has been funded with over $127,000 on a goal of $80,000 and that will likely climb during the remaining 13 days of the campaign. The projected delivery time frame for the suit is September of this year, but in general hardware-based crowdfunding projects often result in unintended delays. We’ll have more updates on this project in the coming months.
