Sharp unveils haptic VR glove and controller with fine texture sensing

Japan-based Sharp Corporation has just unveiled a prototype VR haptic glove and controller that creates subtle tactile sensations on the fingertip surface, allowing you to feel textures in a virtual environment. The glove also carries basic controller inputs (a joystick and three buttons) between the thumb and forefinger, potentially enabling navigation and interactions.

It must be noted, this is not a force feedback glove that lets you hold or feel the shape of objects by physically pushing back against the fingers. Instead, it uses "multi-segmented tactile actuator elements" on each fingertip to convey rough or smooth textures. These are essentially electrodes on the transducer surface that transmit vibration patterns.

Unlike other full-glove type controllers, it also lacks fine finger tracking, which leaves open the question of how it would leverage the individual texture-sensing capability in each fingertip. Instead, Sharp says that it is working on an attachment method that would pair it with a popular VR controller, such as those that come with the Meta Quest 3S, thus adding more precise positioning capabilities. 

While the glove was priced at ¥100,000 (or $680) for early testers, pre-registrations are now closed. Sharp is clearly aiming to cut down the development time by including users early in the process. It also imagines developers adding tactile data to VR environments using existing GUI-based image editing software, although specific details are not mentioned.

With the device still in a simultaneous development and testing phase, it's not clear when, if at all, it will materialise into a market-ready product. It is somewhat telling and/or concerning that all the images on the project page are renders rather than photographs, but we'll keep our fingers crossed.