VRgluv Is A Fully Funded Force Feedback Glove On Kickstarter

VRgluv Is A Fully Funded Force Feedback Glove On Kickstarter

Deepening the immersion of virtual reality is something many creators or working on, from finding a natural form of locomotion to delivering realistic physical feedback from these virtual worlds. The latter of the two has been tackled in various forms but a common factor between a majority of the options is a high price tag. The VRgluv, currently undergoing a Kickstarter campaign, is an attempt to bring affordable feedback to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Despite the team behind VRgluv touting this as an affordable haptic device, it doesn’t look like the glove will be without any significant features. It is said to offer complete tracking for every individual finger and will have realistic force feedback for each as well. On top of all that, they aim to make it lightweight, comfortable, and rechargeable all while somehow being wireless as well.

For the “We Got Funded” pricing tier the project’s creators promise a pair of VRgluvs for $369 (limited to 400 pairs). The “Kickstarter” special promises a pair at $399, described as being a “20% reduction off the retail price”. If this glove operates as they say with minimal lag, this price sounds like quite a bargain. It may take a little bit more time to bring the price to a fully consumer friendly zone, but it isn’t far off from a price that allow it to be paired with the Rift and Vive in a bundle and not scare off the early adopters.

The VRgluv team says they already getting developer kits out to creators. Experiences such as Drunken Bar Fight and Abode are listed as compatible content and, considering they’ve surpassed their $100,000 goal with most of the month to go, that list should grow quickly. Stay tuned to UploadVR for more updates in the future.

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VRgluv Haptic Controller Kickstarter Smashes Past Funding Target in 48 Hours

After only two days, the crowdfunding campaign for the VRgluv haptic glove controller has reached its funding goal, but many reward tiers are still available.

The campaign began on Wednesday aiming to bring to fruition a new type of haptic controller. Within 48 hours the VRgluv Kickstarter campaign is already over the $100,000 (USD) funding goal. The glove is designed to deliver force-feedback, pressure sensing and finger tracking as an all-in-one package suitable for many types of virtual reality (VR) experiences.

The VRgluv is designed to be compatible with both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift and there are already videogame and experiences that support the VRgluv, such as Light Repair Team 4, Climbey and VR Regatta.

VRgluv_web1-min

Pledges are still being accepted until the campaign closes on 26th May 2017, and finding tiers range from $5 to receive updates on the project, to $349 for the early bird package which includes one pair of gloves and adaptors for both HTC Vive and Oculus Touch. The highest tier tops out at £2,990 which gets the backer ten pairs of gloves, along with ten sets of adapters for Oculus Touch and HTC Vive.

Haptics in VR are becoming increasingly popular as a method to increase immersion, such as the Hardlight haptic suit, which also began as a Kickstarter campaign. Not only does it enable more naturalistic and intuitive movement within VR scenarios, but proper motion simulation can help reduce the effects of motion sickness experienced by some VR users.

It isn’t currently known if the organisers of the campaign are wanting to aim for any stretch goals, further updates will be posted to the official Kickstarter page.

VRFocus will keep you up-to-date on VRgluv and other VR-related Kickstarter campaigns.

VRTV’s Week In Recap: Tech Wizards, Space Wizards And Wizard Wizards

Life as a chestbursting alien, a world record, Oculus launches a contest to find the best wizard, Palmer Luckey returns from the social media wilderness and Nokia getting set to take you to a galaxy far, far away are just some of the virtual reality (VR) related technology, experiences and stories that have come out all within the last week.

As usual, Nina is here to guide you through all the stories of the last seven days with VRTV. What stories really caught your eye this week? Let us know in the comments.

This week’s stories, click here for more information on each:

VRgluv Force-feedback Glove Blasts Past 50% Kickstarter Goal in 24 Hours

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.

VRgluv Kickstarter

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.

Applying haptic glove support to VR applications involves incorporating the VRgluv SDK, and the team recently created a short video to showcase a few examples of games already compatible.

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.

The post VRgluv Force-feedback Glove Blasts Past 50% Kickstarter Goal in 24 Hours appeared first on Road to VR.

Haptic Controller VRgluv Rolls out Kickstarter Campaign

VRFocus has covered several gloves designed for virtual reality (VR) interaction, such as CaptoGlove, Manus VR and Finch, all aiming to improve immersion. While all these designs follow a similar goal, what they don’t currently feature is haptic feedback. So enters VRgluv, which has now launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign.

VRgluv has been built as a VR haptic glove that combines full force feedback, pressure sensing, and finger tracking as an all-in-one package. The device also features full rotational wrist movement by adding a VR headset’s motion controller to it, or for the HTC Vive, either the controller or Vive Tracker should one be available.

VRgluv_web1-min

With full force feedback and VRgluv’s proprietary pressure sensitivity feature, the glove lets users feel objects whether they’re hard or soft, allowing users to squish, crush or mold a virtual item . Additionally, it can also recreate the shape of an object in someone’s hand.

Chris Taylor, CEO of VRgluv said in a statement: “Our Patent Pending technology will have applications in several industries including gaming, education, medical and robotics. Additionally, as an avid and early-adopter of VR gaming, myself, I am thrilled that VRgluv™​ is very focused on initially introducing our gloves to the gaming community. I believe that giving gamers the ability to use “virtual hands” instead of button controllers is literally a game changer. Finally, VR hardware is nothing without great content, and, we are already working with talented developers to create a suite of games that will make for an absolutely incredible variety of gaming experiences from the very first day that our Kickstarter backers receive their gloves.”

For the Kickstarter VRgluv is looking to raise $100,000 USD by 26th May 2017, and one day in has already achieved $45,533. Several backing tier are available with pledges starting from as little as $5 To get hold of the VRgluv’s themselves, customers will need to spend $349 for the early bird tier.

For further updates on VRgluv’s Kickstarter campaign, keep reading VRFocus.

Virtual Reality Handschuh – VRgluv

Das Team hinter dem VR-Handschuh VRgluv hat sich zum Ziel gemacht, ein Eingabegerät zu entwickeln, welches High-Tech-Features mit futuristischem Design verbindet.

Der momentane Stand von Virtual Reality bedient unsere visuellen und auditiven Sinne. Um VR noch natürlicher zu gestalten, hat das Team aus Atlanta seine Fühler in den haptischen Sektor ausgestreckt und einen Handschuh mit tollen Features entwickelt.

Virtual Reality – greifbar gemacht

Bewegungen jedes Fingers werden individuell erfasst und in VR dargestellt. Gekoppelt mit dem Positions- und Rotationstracking der kompletten Hand können völlig neue Interaktionsmodelle geschaffen werden.

Das variable Force-Feedback System des VRgluv überträgt die Form virtueller 3D-Geometrie und erlaubt das Fühlen von Objekten in VR. Der Griff eines Schwertes oder die Form eines Balls können so die Immersion verstärken und Interaktion in Virtual Reality auf das nächste Level heben.

Die Dichte der virtuellen Objekte wird über Sensoren an die Hand weitergegeben. Hier wird in Echtzeit das Verhalten von physikalischen Eigenschaften der Objekte nachgeahmt. Ein weicher Ballon oder das Zerbrechen einer Glaskugel können so für jeden Finger separat kalkuliert und übersetzt werden.

Ergonomisch wurde großer Wert auf natürliche und kabellose Handhabung der Hardware gelegt. Die Außenseite bietet eine Halterung am Handgelenk. Hier können Oculus Touch, HTC Vive Controller sowie die HTC Tracking Sensoren angebracht werden. Das ganze ist größenverstellbar um unterschiedlich großen Händen, das nutzen des VRGluvs zu erleichtern.

Aus Software-Sicht steht ein SDK bereit, das Entwicklern der Unity3D oder Unreal Engine einfache implementierung aller Features des VR-Handschuhs erleichtert.

Ein Preis und Erscheinungstermin ist noch nicht bekannt. Das VRgluv Handschuhsystem ist kompatibel mit allen High-End Virtual Reality Systemen wie HTC Vive und Oculus Rift.

Die aktuelle Patentlösung Leap Motion bietet jetzt schon Tracking der Hände, allerdings ohne das haptische Feedback. Wir sind gespannt welche Anwendungsbeispiele für VR Handschuhe gefunden werden. Welches VR-Game oder welche Experience wird deiner Meinung nach von Hardware wie dem VRgluv profitieren?

Der Beitrag Virtual Reality Handschuh – VRgluv zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!