Tactical Haptics is commercializing haptic game controllers to provide touch feedback that is more realistic than industry-standard Rumble (vibration) feedback. Realistic touch feedback is a critical element for creating immersive experiences and is currently missing from virtual reality (VR). The company's recent achievements include receiving commercialization grants from NSF and NASA, acceptanc
e to the StartX startup accelerator, and shipping controllers to partners as part of its closed Beta to get feedback on its SDK. See videos explaining the technology and demos with our Reactive Grip™ controllers on our company website: http://tacticalhaptics.com/media/ Reactive Grip™ feedback can be used to convey motion and force information. It does this through the motion of sliding contactor plates that are on the surface of the device. These sliding plates present the user with friction forces that approximate the friction forces as if they were actually grabbing an in-game object. Because of its ability to recreate the skin sensations of actually holding an object, this type of feedback creates an engaging experience that brings gaming interactions to life, and we have hence named this feedback technology, Reactive Grip™ Shear Feedback. This technology is compatible with motion-based controller interfaces, such as the Nintendo Wii, Sony Move, or Microsoft Kinect, and is even more compelling when paired with a head mounted display such as the Oculus Rift or Sony Morpheus to provide unprecedented levels of immersion and realism in a virtual reality gaming environment. The current Reactive Grip™ game controller prototype uses a Razer Hydra as its motion tracking system, but is not tracker dependent.
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For updates on the commercialization of this technology, check out the Tactical Haptics page:
https://www.facebook.com/TacticalHaptics
