Can you imagine burning your fingertips or feel that ice freezes your hand as you interact with a program of virtual reality? The Mexican company Vivoxie created Power Claw, a pair of gloves with an interface that stimulates the skin and allows the sense of touch in cyber worlds.The device generate the sensation of heat, cold, vibration and roughness of objects that are part of a virtual reality. The gloves are complemented with Oculus Rift glasses.
Designed to work with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, the gloves can also provide the sense of vibration and roughness of objects that a gamer touches in the virtual reality environment. Dubbed the Power Claw, the system uses Leap Motion software to identify the user’s hands in different simulations. Vivoxie, the company behind the invention, created two demos using the Unity platform, which is commonly used for creating videogames for a console or the web. One of the game demos simulates the interior of a building where the user must perform small tasks, like hurl thunderbolts with his hands to destroy a number of targets, open the doors of an elevator, shoot fireballs and feel their fingers burn or freeze when lifting a piece of ice. The team envisions the system could also be used in educational settings to teach medicine or engineering students. The glove has three actuators in the thumb, index finger and middle finger and is equipped with an electronic circuit that generates impulses simulating the sensations.
The aim is to offer Power Claw as a peripheral or accessory device to be used in different applications (apps) not limited to video games, for example education, medicine or engineering. Vivoxie will make its own apps to work with the gloves to later depend on the developers and their needs. The medium-term goal is for the glove to work with both the applications of the company as well as those created by different developers. Therefore, API and SDK files must be released to the public, inviting developers to generate new apps that require the Power Claw. The researchers are currently seeking commercial partners who would help them further develop the product. One of their aims is to improve the power management of the glove to enable wireless operations. Currently, the actuators consume too much power when changing from hot to cold and require a constant power supply.
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