Hapto Glove, An Affordable Haptic Controller For VR Headsets

Headsets aren’t enough to immerse you in a virtual reality. Yes, your sight is tricked by the visuals and your hearing is flooded with sound, but without motion controllers, you wouldn’t be able to interact with objects like you do in the real world. And even then, after you could push, draw or open boxes, you wouldn’t feel the texture of an object, perceive correctly its weight and size. That’s why many companies are focusing now on developing haptic controllers, a type of gear that enables you to feel that virtual medium. One of the most affordable and user-friendly devices is Hapto #realitymagic

Hapto is a new VR product crowdfunding now on IndieGogo.   The first thing you’ll notice is probably the accessible price – just $129 if you order it now or $249 when it hits the market. Given the often spicy price VR gear is available to purchase, this is a relief. Then, you’ll notice the attractive design. You’re supposed to wear Hapto like you would wear a glove, adjusting the fit with a comfy strap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fEP-bgxb0E

To activate it, you need a built-in or an external web-camera for Windows or Android 5.1 (or higher) for mobile ones. Then, it’s a matter of turning on the Bluetooth to make it work. The different sensations you trigger by interacting with VR objects are faithfully rendered by 20 pushers. Then, movement-capturing light circles help your device coordinate with your actions in the virtual reality game. As you can imagine, the device has also finger tracking, meaning any movement made with your finger is sensed and reflect by Hapto.

There are 4 buttons that trigger different VR actions, 2 hours of battery life and two color version: black and white or black and orange. The best thing is you can use them with most headsets out there, like  Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Google Daydream View VR Headset, and Merge VR Goggles, OSVR.

Plus, if the campaign is a success (and at this rate, it should be), the team says they’ll add Hololens and PSVR support. Earliest shipping date is March 2018.