A Wearable Muscle Stimulation System for VR Haptic Feedback

When exploring a VR world, things may look realistic, but if you’d like to, for instance, put your hand through a virtual wall, there’s nothing physically stopping you. Though this might seem like an insurmountable problem without some sort of physical barrier or advanced electromechanical suit, researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute have come up with a different solution.

Their experimental system, instead of a physical barrier, uses electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) to exert force via an opposing muscle. So for example, if you need to use your biceps to pick up a box, then one’s triceps are activated, causing the user to have to work in order to overcome this “weight.”

The wearable setup, which is worn in a small backpack, includes up to eight electrodes stuck to various part’s of a user’s shoulder, arm, and wrist. These electrodes are then connected to an 8-channel muscle stimulator that’s controlled from the VR simulators.

The idea looks promising, and perhaps when it’s perfected, it can represent a leap forward in VR technology! You can read more about this impressive project in the team’s paper here.

[h/t Co.Design]