Fluid Reality is creating a less expensive, lighter gadget that eliminates the need for cumbersome backpacks and a plethora of tubing, providing a substitute to the haptic VR gloves that are already on the market.
It is intended to provide customers a high-definition virtual reality encounter right at their disposal.
Haptics adds another layer to a virtual reality (VR) or 3D world and is required for viewers to feel totally immersed in such surroundings.
However, haptic gloves like those made by HaptX and Meta are now attached to large control devices that are heavy with cables and tubes. This is not the case with Fluid Reality’s haptic VR glove, which comes with a thin, totally mobile, and independent device.
With 160 dynamic haptic feedback motors, the glove from Fluid Reality allows consumers to experience high-resolution touch right at their fingers. Thus, for instance, while playing a virtual violin with the glove, the player should be able to feel every single string of the device.
Every fingertip haptic panel has pixels that resemble bubbles and are filled with a liquid that expands and fills each one when triggered. Each pixel is a specialised, wirelessly operated pump that is just a few hundred microns in thickness. The pumps work on the electroosmosis concept, which attracts energy in the fluid directly and prompts it to move and have no mechanical components. The ground-breaking layout of Fluid Reality aims to give things with a variety of sizes, shapes, and layers vitality.
The haptic arrays are low-profile, using just 10 mW/pixel of electricity and only 0.2 in (5 mm) thick. They don’t have any wire or tube leading to outside devices; they are totally self-contained. The lasting power of the glove is approximately three hours on a single charge.
Fluid Reality attributes the small size and low mass of its haptic glove to the use of readily available, fully functional parts like a Raspberry Pi. When all driving electronics and the batteries are included, the glove has a weight of 0.5 lb (207 g), which is far less than the 17 lb (7.7 kg) that HaptX’s Glove G1 weighs. The Glove G1 costs $5,495 for a set and an additional $495 each month for an obligatory monthly membership, making it less expensive at around $1,000 USD.
The characteristics of the haptic glove were showcased by the Fluid Reality group in a paper (PDF) at the User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) conference in 2023.
