Developed by scientists at EPFL and ETH Zurich, a new haptic glove has been unveiled, allowing wearers to grasp, touch, and manipulate virtual objects. Each finger weighs under 8 grams, and generates up to 40 N of holding force with 200 V and a few mW of power.
The glove, dubbed DextrES, also boasts a low form factor being only 2 mm thick, and can potentially run on a small battery. However at the moment, the glove is powered by an electrical cable. With all this in mind, the haptic device delivers an “unprecedented level of precision and freedom of movement,” according to EPFL.
“We wanted to develop a lightweight device that—unlike existing virtual-reality gloves—doesn’t require a bulky exoskeleton, pumps, or very thick cables,” says Head of EPFL’s Soft Transducers Laboratory (LMTS) Herbert Shea.
Nylon was the material of choice, with each finger housing thin, elastic metal strips that are separated by an insulator. When someone interacts with a virtual object, a voltage difference is applied by the controller between the metal strips. As a result, the strips stick together due to electrostatic attraction.
According to EPFL, “This produces a braking force that blocks the finger’s or thumb’s movement. Once the voltage is removed, the metal strips glide smoothly and the user can once again move his fingers freely.”
“The system’s low power requirement is due to the fact that it doesn’t create a movement, but blocks one,” notes Shea.
What’s in store for DextrES’ future? More tests, it seems, as the team strives for a realistic haptic glove experience.
“The human sensory system is highly developed and highly complex. We have many different kinds of receptors at a very high density in the joints of our fingers and embedded in the skin,” explains Otmar Hilliges, head of the Advanced Interactive Technologies Lab at ETH Zurich. “As a result, rendering realistic feedback when interacting with virtual objects is a very demanding problem and is currently unsolved. Our work goes one step in this direction, focusing particularly on kinesthetic feedback.”
Also on the agenda is to scale up the device, and use conductive fabric to utilize different parts of the body. The team is first targeting the game industry, healthcare training programs, and augmented reality.
You can watch DextrES in action in the video below.