Previous VR gloves have created the sensation of touch using small, air-filled chambers in the fingers and palms of the glove, which are powered by pressurised air. When the user touches something in virtual reality, the corresponding chamber is filled with pressurised air, creating a feeling of pressure or resistance.
However, large canisters of air, large bundles of tubing, and a lot of electricity are required to use compressed air. Haptx, Tactus Gaming and Manus VR, for example, use compressed air-powered gloves. These are comparatively easy to build, but take up a relatively large amount of space.
We were eyeing up what these startups were doing, what Meta was doing and we were like, this is not the way forward. There’s just no way to miniaturize a compressed air system. It’s always going to be in a backpack no matter how small you make it. They’re just chasing up the wrong tree, in our opinion.
– Chris Harrison
