A CES Preview:
As a gamer, cat lover and tech geek, I will be making a beeline for the bHaptics booth at CES this January in Vegas. Any company that leads with “Pet a virtual cat and FEEL it” will be number one on my CES “must do” list.
As someone who spent the last year equally immersed in Harry Potter’s Legacy and Elden Ring, I can imagine a thousand uses for this glove. From feeling the flash burn from potions class in Harry Potter to the satisfying feeling of gutting the tree sentry in Elden Ring, I can only imagine the uses being dreamed up at bHaptics and their gaming partners.
I’m a bit more nervous about a full haptics suit in a dark soul’s game since I think my death rate is in the hundreds in Elden Ring at this point, but that’s a worry for another time.
First, let’s get the rundown on the bHaptics TactGlove:
Profile:
- bHaptics is a South Korean company founded in 2016 that develops haptic feedback technology and products.
- The TactGlove is one of their flagship products, first announced in 2018. It’s a VR glove that provides intricate haptic feedback to the user’s hands in virtual environments.
- The TactGlove has a lightweight and flexible design with tactile feedback points across the palm and fingers. It uses proprietary haptic motors and algorithms to simulate sensations of touch, pressure, vibration, motion, temperature, and pain.
- Key features of the TactGlove include:
- High resolution haptic feedback with up to 90 distinct vibrotactile stimulations per finger.
- Tracks hand and finger motions with built-in sensors.
- Wireless and lightweight at just 150g.
- SDK for Unity and Unreal game engines.
- Rechargeable battery with up to 5 hours usage per charge.
- Initial versions required a wired connection to a controller or PC. Newer versions have onboard controllers for untethered use.
- Targeted at VR gaming and training simulations that require realistic hand presence and interactions.
- Available for purchase by developers, enterprises, researchers, and consumers starting at $299 per glove.
In my online preview of the glove, I was impressed by its appearance: how lightweight and like a typical woman’s gardening glove it looks. This glove is closer to the real thing than these VR/AR headsets are to glasses at this point.
I know it was previewed before at CES but I’m anticipating that the team at bHaptics will be surprising us with new uses they can preview from their development partners. Petting a cat and being surprised by an occasional purr? I just may shed a tear.
By Ariel Penn, October 13, 2023