Key Highlights:
- Meta is going right into virtual reality with a sneak peek at its most recent research and development on haptic gloves.
- According to Meta, the gloves use haptic rendering to provide “precise instructions to the actuators on the hand”.
- The company also articulated its ambition for the project as it moves forward, reflecting the narrative of the Ready Player One film.
Meta previews haptic gloves
Meta is going right into virtual reality with a sneak peek at its most recent research and development on haptic gloves, which provide sensory feedback when in digital domains.
In late October, Facebook changed to Meta in order to refocus its attention away from social networking and toward Metaverse and VR tech development.
Meta announced the newest advancements in haptic glove research from its VR tech business Reality Labs, adding that the device has been seven years in the works.
The company uploaded a video of two people using the haptic gloves in a Metaverse demo, clenching their fists, picking up blocks, throwing things, shaking hands, knocking over dominoes, and playing Jenga together.
Haptic Gloves will not be available any time soon
According to Meta, the gloves use haptic rendering to provide “precise instructions to the actuators on the hand,” which coincide with tracking technology that pinpoints the hand’s location as well as the attributes of virtual objects in the Metaverse.
The palms seem to be lined with little soft robotic motors that move in sync to offer a similar sensation to the user’s hand motions in the Metaverse at their present level of development. Meta, on the other hand, stated that haptic gloves will not be available anytime soon.
According to Meta, their haptic glove project “began as a moonshot,” but it is getting closer to becoming a reality because of advances in perception science, soft robotics, microfluidics, hand tracking, and haptic rendering.
Offering a liveable Metaverse
The company also articulated its ambition for the project as it moves forward, reflecting the narrative of the Ready Player One film, in which VR technology and gaming have advanced to the point of offering a liveable Metaverse for its users.
“Imagine working on a virtual 3D puzzle with a friend’s realistic 3D avatar. As you pick up a virtual puzzle piece from the table, your fingers automatically stop moving as you feel it within your grasp.”
Many observers are waiting to see if Meta will create an “open Metaverse” like its decentralized rivals in the crypto field, or if it will pose a danger to the space by competing for supremacy. Some, however, are highly enthusiastic about Meta’s approach, with Emil Angervall, co-founder and chief operating officer of music tech startup Corite, telling Cointelegraph on Oct. 29 that the company would give exceptional upside prospects for the NFT and Metaverse sectors.
