A new virtual reality controller lets you touch and feel digital objects in the metaverse.
Virtual reality platforms are a hot topic right now, so naturally, the demand for gadgets that better the user experience is high.
And one handheld haptic controller, dubbed SpinOcchio, may outperform them all.
The device was developed by researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology’s MAKinteract Lab.
Using a spin process – for which it is named – the controller aims to recreate the sense of touch in a VR setting.
In fact, the gadget is capable of rendering both the thickness and slipping of a virtual object that sits between two fingers, the researchers noted in a study.
This is achieved using spinning and pivoting disks that replicate the feeling of skin slip around the fingertips.
Far more realistic than a traditional controller joystick, this device may help to accurately recreate virtual experiences such as pottery, Gizmodo reported.
But just how did the researchers create this gadget?
First, they determined the haptic (or touch) discrimination threshold for skin slip.
Then, using those results, they tested how “haptic realism of motion and thickness is perceived with varying visual cues in VR,” the researchers said.
Surprisingly, the team’s results found that in all cases, visual cues dominate over haptic perception.
Based on their results, the experts recommended using this device with applications that leverage skin-slip and grip interaction because they “contribute further to realistic experiences in VR.”
The SpinOcchio controller is due to launch at the 2022 Computer-Human Interaction conference that takes place in late April in New Orleans.
However, for those who are interested, the team’s research paper ‘SpinOcchio: Understanding Haptic-Visual Congruency of Skin-Slip in VR with a Dynamic Grip Controller’ can offer more information for now.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.
