As virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) slowly grow in adoption, their shortcomings become more obvious. Most glaringly, they only engage users’ sense of sight and hearing. Haptic tactile feedback is almost non-existent and so picking up a “sword” in VR feels like picking up a VR controller, because that’s what you’re actually doing. […]
We’re seeing a substantial turn towards online social interaction replacing in-person social interaction — especially among the younger generations. That was exacerbated and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But mountains of research show that physical touch is critical to a person’s mental wellbeing and online interactions haven’t been able to provide that. One solution may […]
Modern virtual reality headsets provide really great visuals and audio, but many experiences can’t be conveyed through those alone. There have been many attempts to expand on that to create more immersive experiences — we’ve even seen hardware to provide scent and thermal feedback. However, we’ve yet to see anything that can replicate eating food […]
One reason that fans prefer mechanical keyboards over membrane alternatives is that mechanical key switches provide a very noticeable tactile sensation at the moment a key press registers. Whether consciously or not, users notice that and stop pressing the key all the way through the maximum travel — reducing strain and RSI potential. Developed by […]
Wouldn’t it be great if, while playing a virtual reality game, you could feel the heat of a fire on your arm? Or the cold of chilly water? Engineers around the world have been trying to make that happen, but there is a big problem: temperature changes are slow. The immersive effect diminishes when the […]
Imagine playing Half-Life: Alyx and feeling the gun heat up in your hand as you take down The Combine. Or operating a robot through augmented reality and feeling coldness on your fingers when you get close to exceeding the robot’s limits. A prototype device called ThermoGrasp brings that thermal feedback to the mixed reality applications. ThermoGrasp is […]
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are both currently experiencing a meteoric rise in popularity, with the combined market expected to reach $77 billion by 2025, from just $15.3 billion in 2020. For makers, AR and VR represent exciting opportunities to build new types of projects, tapping into entirely new possibilities and learning skills […]
In virtual reality, anything is possible, yet being able to accurately model things from the real-world in a digital space remains a huge challenge due to the lack of weight/feedback that would otherwise be present in physical objects. Inspired by working with digital cameras and the inherit imperfection they bring to their videos, Bas van […]
When it comes to virtual reality, the visual technology is quite good and can convince our brains that we’re inside a digital 3D environment. Audio is also decent, thanks to established interaural 3D audio techniques. But current consumer VR setups fail to adequately incorporate our other senses and that failure breaks the immersive illusion. To […]
The entire purpose of virtual reality (VR) is to improve immersion beyond what can be achieved with a regular TV or monitor. So it can be frustrating to VR users when the darkness in their peripheral vision reminds them that they are, in fact, wearing a headset. To enhance the situation with Valve Index VR […]
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