The Tactile Gaming Vest uses solenoids and vibrating motors to let you feel bullet impacts or knife slashes. It doesn't sound pleasant, but trust us, gamers will love it.
If enormous flat screen TVs and surround sound aren’t enough to satisfy your hunger for immersive gaming then maybe you need to be shot. Virtually, that is. Saurabh Palan from the Haptics Lab at the University of Pennsylvania has developed the Tactile Gaming Vest (TGV) a device that lets you feel the impact of bullets, and the slashing sensation of knives as you play action packed video games. The TGV is mounted with solenoids that strike you (for bullets) and vibrating motors (for the knife slashing sensation) that respond to cues from the game and let you feel what your character feels on the screen. Palan hopes to give users a “4-D” experience, with tactile feedback providing the extra dimension of immersion. The TGV debuted at the recent 2010 Haptics Symposium to much fanfare and positive reviews. While this device is still in the early prototype phase, haptic vests may one day be adapted to provide real sensations for military training, movies, and yes, amazing video games.
The TGV isn’t the first vest with physical feedback. In fact, you can go online now and order one from TN Games for $140. That system, however, uses compressed air, making its response slower and less precise than the TGV. Most other haptic vests have relied on just one kind of feedback. Palan has incorporated both impacts and vibrations, and plans on including more. The original TGV prototype (which was tested at UPenn in September ’09) also contained heating elements to give wearers the sensation of blood flowing from a wound. That part of the system had to be removed because of its need for high electric current. According to Palan’s website, they also considered adding in features to simulate punches, kicks, ambient temperature, artillery explosions. Sounds like a full military or disaster relief simulator in the making.
Earlier models of the TGV included heating elements to simulate blood flow. Hopefully later versions will contain a wide range of stimuli to provide a complete virtual experience.
For now, the TGV is most notable for how it points the way to a full-body haptic experience. Combine many different modes of feedback and you’ll be able to approximate a much wider range of sensations. We already have the necessary technology to do haptics today. All it takes is solenoids, eccentric motors, peltier (heating) elements, good programming, and a lot of creativity. Palan seems to have each of those in spades. Hopefully he, or one of the many other haptics researchers, will continue to develop feedback suits until they’re good for more than just a great round of Halo.
[image credits: Saurabh Palan]
[source: iRoboticist (Palan's personal website)]
Comments
I remember reading a novel back in the 90s where a game maker created a product called the enJoystick with similar functions. I think it was by Tom Clancy…perhaps it was the OpCentre series…a pretty crappy series
iOhhhhhhhh Nooo!!!
iOhhhhhhhh Nooo!!!
iOhhhhhhhh Nooo!!!
I’ve just realised I must be pretty weird if the first thing I thought was: well that’d be so cool, but I hope you can turn off the safeties so it actually hurts a bit.
Apparently I want to be covered in bruises and welts after a long gaming session. ?
I’ve just realised I must be pretty weird if the first thing I thought was: well that’d be so cool, but I hope you can turn off the safeties so it actually hurts a bit.
Apparently I want to be covered in bruises and welts after a long gaming session. ?
I’ve just realised I must be pretty weird if the first thing I thought was: well that’d be so cool, but I hope you can turn off the safeties so it actually hurts a bit.
Apparently I want to be covered in bruises and welts after a long gaming session. ?
If you fall for this the-more-D-the-better frenzy, please refer to the mentioned system as 8D, because it lets you experience 3 dimensions of visual space, 3 aural dimensions and 2 haptic dimensions (your body is a surface, not a line)
If you fall for this the-more-D-the-better frenzy, please refer to the mentioned system as 8D, because it lets you experience 3 dimensions of visual space, 3 aural dimensions and 2 haptic dimensions (your body is a surface, not a line)
If you fall for this the-more-D-the-better frenzy, please refer to the mentioned system as 8D, because it lets you experience 3 dimensions of visual space, 3 aural dimensions and 2 haptic dimensions (your body is a surface, not a line)