back to article We won't need to go outside if these haptic tricksters have their way

Haptic controllers are being touted as the next frontier in virtual reality. Having spent years obsessing over headset pixel counts, the VR industry is now playing with exoskeletal gloves, ultrasound waves and even electric shocks in order to simulate a sense of touch. This focus is arguably long overdue: current VR …

  1. Anonymous Coward
  2. Dave 126 Silver badge

    The other day a fellow Reg reader said that current VR kit is like an acoustic coupler, I didn't didn't get what he meant at the time. I do now. Translating digital information into physical movement only for our bodies to translate that sensation back into electrical signals does seem to be a limited approach. It's like trying to convert an MP3 to a WAV by recording it to cassette tape and then MiniDisc, and then holding the earbuds up to a microphone.

    We either need brain / machine interfaces or drugs. Lots of drugs. A la The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

    Until then, a comfy chair, side table and a reading light placed near a stereo with big speakers (at low volume) will do me!

    1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

      Add a decent bottle of port and I'll join you....

      1. Wensleydale Cheese

        "Add a decent bottle of port and I'll join you...."

        Add a nicely glowing log fire and I'll be along as well.

  3. frank ly

    One little word

    "... the electrodes would need to be incorporated into some kind of dry suit you can easily wear."

    I think a wet suit would be more comforatble and cheaper too.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: One little word

      After spending twenty minutes strapping on the suit, you find you need to take a pee. Or the doorbell goes.

      1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

        Re: One little word

        ..then it becomes a wet suit....

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: One little word

          Meh, just use the P-valve.

  4. Thomassmart

    Where is my

    Matrix brain spike tech?

    1. not.known@this.address

      Re: Where is my

      Lawnmower Man clingy jumpsuit with lots of electrical wiring and gaffer tape?

      1. John G Imrie
        Happy

        Re: Lawnmower Man

        Flying, floating, what was the third one?

  5. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

    We won't need to go outdoors....

    ...then where are we going to get our Vitamin D from?

    1. Duffy Moon

      Re: We won't need to go outdoors....

      "...then where are we going to get our Vitamin D from?"

      Supplements - much as we already do for the nine months of the year other than those that give us enough sunlight in the UK.

  6. Teiwaz

    Having spent years obsessing over headset pixel counts, the VR industry is now playing with exoskeletal gloves, ultrasound waves and even electric shocks in order to simulate a sense of touch.

    And have they solved the headset pixels or nasty nausea some users experience yet?

    I'm going to assume all these 'holodeck handshandy' (or 'realistic feel of snowflakes on the piste' for those who put a lesser value on the trouserial VR experience) are not worth as much without a visual you can put up with for any length of time without becoming a surprise Exocist themed shower for unwitting passersby.

    Comfy chair, warm liquer, inch or more thick novel and roaring fire for me too...

  7. d3vy

    Lets get serious for a minute.

    The killer app for this is a VR fleshlight - lets not pretend its not.

    1. wayward4now

      "The killer app for this is a VR fleshlight - lets not pretend its not."

      Finally, an honest man. Just leave VR to the sex industry, as whatever they adopt will become the defacto standard.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More stuff on VR from the Reg

    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/16/human_limits_of_vr_and_ar/

    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/05/oculus_vr_studio_axed/

    ........And elsewhere, VR reality bites:

    https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/interviews/epics-tim-sweeney-on-vr-and-the-future-of-civilization-w459561

    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-13-sweeney-the-future-of-the-games-industry-make-everyone-a-creator

    https://www.cnet.com/news/vr-disappoints-at-ces-2017-lenovo-oculus-htc/

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