VR Gloves

These VR Gloves Track Your Fingers & Electrically Stimulate for Haptic Feedback

December 28, 2022 From roadtovr

AI SILK is a Japanese wearable-tech startup that’s set to unveil a new haptic glove at CES 2023 next month which approaches both haptic feedback and finger-tracking in a different way altogether.

AI SILK is a Tohoku University spinoff that develops wearable products using their patented technology to produce smooth conductive fiber, turning them into electrodes that can be used for a number of things.

Called Lead Skin, the controller houses these conductive fibers, which not only provides finger-tracking and control buttons on the back of the gauntlet-style controller, but also an electrical haptic pulse that aims to simulate manipulating virtual objects.

Weighing in at 380g (~13.5oz), or about the weight of two Quest 2 controllers with batteries included, Lead Skin is said to measure the current impedance from the expansion and contraction of the fabric within, and then through deep machine learning-developed algorithms “understand the intended actions from glove wearers’ physical finger movements,” AI Silk says in a press statement.

Electrical pulses are sent to both the palm and fingers, which is a decidedly shocking departure from the standard haptic motor buzzes that we’ve seen in other VR gloves.

While specs are still thin on the ground, the flashy promo video is certainly something to behold, if not only for its peek inside the Japanese idol industry, which regularly host handshake events. It’s not clear how resistance training and face-punching fit into Lead Skin’s actual feature set, but the spot certainly looks electrifying, as our protagonist is recognized as the idol’s online training partner.

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AI Silk’s Lead Skin haptic gloves will debut at CES 2023 between January 5-8, where we’ll have feet on the ground. Check back soon for more info on Lead Skin and all of the latest AR/VR tech out there at the biggest trade shows of the year.

High-end Haptic VR Glove Company HaptX Raises $23 Million Investment

September 20, 2022 From roadtovr

HaptX, which makes-enterprise focused haptic VR gloves, has announced the closure of a $23 million investment. The company says it will use the cash to accelerate the rollout of its next-gen products.

HaptX has been enhancing and refining its enterprise-focused haptic VR gloves for several years now. In addition to force-feedback, the company also touts its micro-pneumatic haptics which push against your skin to mimic the feeling of an object pushing back when you grip it. Though bulky and expensive, HaptX has the most convincing haptic VR gloves I’ve tried yet.

Following the early 2021 debut of its ‘DK2’ gloves, the company says it’s seen considerable demand in the enterprise space for its wares.

On that momentum HaptX recently announced it has raised a $23 million funding round, bringing the company’s total funding to some $58 million. The new round was led by AIS Global and Crescent Cove Advisors, with participation from Verizon Ventures, Mason Avenue Investments, and Taylor Frigon Capital Partners.

Alongside the round, HaptX says it has “extended its partnership with AIS Global,” which marks a commitment by AIS to help HaptX scale its product to serve more customers.

“HaptX and AIS Global have built a deep, successful relationship dedicated to innovation at the cutting edge of the high-growth global haptics market,” said Joe Baddeley, CEO of AIS Global. “AIS Global and KPS are thrilled to provide the resources, commitment, and expertise necessary to support aggressive scaling of HaptX’s commercial footprint.”

HaptX isn’t talking specifics about its “next-generation product suite” just yet, but we can bet it’ll be a more compact and hopefully more affordable version of its haptic VR gloves.

Manus Begins Pre-orders for Latest VR Gloves, Quantum Metagloves

May 10, 2022 From roadtovr

VR glove creator Manus has launched pre-orders for its latest device, Quantum Metagloves, an input solution targeted at enterprise users. The Netherlands-based company is looking to offer up more precise finger tracking than not only its past VR gloves, but also optical trackers current used in the industry.

Manus launched pre-orders for Quantum Metagloves last week, stating that expected shipping begins sometime in early Q3, which could likely take place in the September timeframe.

The enterprise-focused gloves start at $9,000 (€7,500), and include a perpetual license and a 2-year warranty. That pricing reflects the base unit without 6DOF positional tracking though, but Quantum Metagloves feature optional modules that hook into Xsens, OptiTrack, and SteamVR tracking standards.

If you haven’t seen our hands-on with the Quantum Metagloves, here’s a quick rundown of how they work. Unlike past Manus gloves, the company’s latest uses a magnetic base placed on the back of the palm. Each finger is tracked magnetically via corresponding modules snuggly placed on the each finger’s tip.

While this doesn’t include haptic feedback, the company told us at GDC 2022 that it was working on a haptic version of the Quantum Metagloves, which would include per-finger haptics to enhance immersion in VR.

At any rate, the gloves offered some promising results when it came to beating occlusion and demonstrating fine finger movements. Make sure to check out all of our early impressions from GDC 2022 in March to see it in action and find out more.

Here’s a look at what comes in the box:

A set of Manus Quantum Metagloves
A perpetual Manus Core Pro license
Wireless Manus Dongle
Three full sets of finger caps (1/2/3)
One full set of finger tapes
Three sets of liner gloves (S/M/L)
Timesync cable
Manus Travel Case

Manus is also running a trade-in discount program which will allow owners users of a number of past products to get Quantum Metagloves for €2500 / $3000 off retail price. These include owners of Prime II, Prime II Haptic, Prime II Xsens, Prime X, Xsens Gloves by Manus, and OptiTrack Gloves by Manus. Visit Manus to learn more about trade-ins and pre-orders.

Technical Specifications

Signal Latency ≤ 5ms
Finger Sensors Absolute position, 3 axis rotation
Sensor sample rate 120Hz
Battery life 4 hours (swappable)
Weight 70 grams
Wireless communication High Performance 2.4 Ghz Protocol
Wireless range Up to 15 meters
Wired communication USB Type-C
Finger attachments Finger caps, finger tapes, liner gloves
Glove Textiles One size fits all (washable)

Latest Manus VR Gloves Promise New Levels of Finger Tracking Accuracy

March 25, 2022 From roadtovr

At GDC 2022 this week, VR glove creator Manus revealed its new Quantum Metagloves which the company says delivers significantly more accurate finger tracking than its prior solutions. Though priced for enterprise use, the company says it one day hopes to deliver the tech to consumers.

Manus has been building motion gloves for use in real-time VR and motion capture for years now, with prior offerings being based on IMU and flex-sensor tracking.

The company’s latest product, the Quantum Metagloves, moves to a new magnetic tracking approach which purportedly offers significantly more accurate finger tracking, especially when it comes to self-contact (ie: fingers touching other fingers or the palm of the hand).

Revealed at GDC 2022 for the first time, Manus showed off a demo of the Quantum Metagloves using a realistic real-time hand model that mirrored the wearer’s finger movements. Though the gloves are designed to work in conjunction with 6DOF tracking (via a SteamVR tracker or other motion tracking tech), the GDC demo didn’t employ 6DOF (which is why the visualization of the arm rotates in place). The latency reflected in this setup is also purportedly not representative of the actual tracking latency.

The Quantum Metagloves have a magnetic base positioned on the back of the palm while each finger has a module on the tip that is sensed within the magnetic field. Manus says this means the gloves can detect absolute finger length and width (once calibrated), which enables more accurate hand-tracking when combined with an underlying skeletal model of the hand that is scaled dynamically to the user.

In the video I asked the demonstrator to make a handful of different poses. Indeed, finger-to-finger and finger-to-palm contact looked impressive with no obvious clipping or stuttering. The company told me the demo wasn’t specially programmed to make clipping impossible and that the behavior was purely thanks to the positional data of the sensors which was described as “very clean” compared to alternative approaches to finger tracking.

Manus says the Quantum Metagloves are unique in this way, as other finger tracking technology tends to break down in these sorts of close-contact and self-contact scenarios, especially when both hands are near or touching each other. Even expensive optical tracking systems (with markers on the tips of each finger) can be foiled easily by self-occlusion or one hand occluding the other. Similarly, purely IMU-based finger tracking is prone to drift and requires regular recalibration.

But magnetic tracking is by no means perfect. In other magnetic tracking systems we’ve seen challenges with latency and electromagnetic interference.

Manus admitted that holding metallic or electronic items could throw off the tracking, but says it worked hard to ensure the gloves don’t interfere with each other; up to eight gloves can be active near each other without interference issues, the company says.

While self-contact looked generally quite good with the Quantum Metagloves, other poses didn’t fare quite as well—like a completely clenched first. The demonstrator suggested this would be improved easily with a more robust calibration process that included similar poses; whereas they say the calibration used for the demo at GDC was designed to be quick and easy for purposes of the show.

While the finger tracking did look great in many of the demos I saw, some of the other demo gloves on display showed much less accuracy. This was chalked up to “calibration,” though a big question for such systems is how much said calibration drifts over time and whether the periods between recalibration are practical for a given use-case.

In any case, use-cases will be deeply constrained by price; Manus says a pair of the Quantum Metagloves will cost $9,000, with pre-orders opening in April and shipments expected by the end of Q3. The company says it also plans to launch a haptic version of the Quantum Metagloves which will include per-finger haptics to enhance immersion in VR.

Manus maintains that it would like to bring its gloves to consumers one day, but says the number of custom parts and manufacturing makes it difficult to get the price down to a reasonable level.