‘Dexmo’ The VR Exoskeleton Glove with Force Feedback Launches Kickstarter Campaign
[Philip Lelyveld comment: I can see the usefulness of this in special circumstances beyond gaming (remote handling of hazardous material, telemedicine), but I can't see it going mass market in the current form factor. ]
Dexta Robotics, a Chinese startup firm born in March of this year, was founded to bring this new product to life. After iterating through some 17 prototypes, the company have decided to release the Dexmo in to versions via a new Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $200k.
The Dexmo comes in two flavours, the Dexmo Classic and F2. The Classic is purely an input device which uses IMUs attached to each of your fingers and thumb to detect movement of the articulated links to each digit plus rotational input from the thumb. It can detect both the splitting (when you separate your fingers) and bending of your fingers plus 3 degrees of movement (rotational) of the thumb. The F2 adds digital force feedback for both your index finger and thumb, meaning that onboard servos ‘brake’ your movement according to information pulled from a VR experience. The upshot is that you can virtually ‘feel’ an object when your hand comes into contact with it.
See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/dexmo-vr-exoskeleton-glove-force-feedback-launches-kickstarter-campaign/
11/10/14 follow-up story - the Kickstarter campaign was cancelled without explanation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.roadtovr.com/raising-55000-dexta-robotics-cancels-kickstarter-haptic-hand-exoskeleton/