Despite the rapid development of virtual reality technology, there is still a long way to go from the "immersive reality" that technology developers hope to see in the future. Technology enthusiasts talk about the future, and when you're wearing virtual reality glasses, it's hard to separate fact from fiction. What we are talking about here is a fictional world where users can walk in virtual streets, meet and interact with others, work, learn and shop in a way that mimics our daily interactions with the real world.
However, for VR technology to get this far, there are still many issues that need to be addressed, including making the glasses themselves smaller and lighter so that they don't burden the wearer when worn for a long time. Providing a screen solution for glasses to ensure a clearer display image. Images that are closer to reality, and physically enhance their ability to process images and information.
In recent years, virtual reality technology has advanced significantly at the above levels, and this progress has continued with each new generation of products. However, in order to achieve a more realistic simulation of real life, the developers of this technology also have to solve a big problem, which is the transfer of the sense of touch from the virtual world to the real world.
With all the advancements in virtual reality, interaction with this world is still limited to images and sounds. However, several proposed technologies and solutions are currently being developed that will allow users to interact with virtual objects by holding, moving, and feeling them.
Technologies currently in development range from gloves to full suits equipped with so-called haptic actuators that provide users with a sense of touch by allowing virtual objects to trigger electrical stimuli or pressure in a way that creates the desired feeling.
Several companies are currently working on this technology, including Spain's Owo Game, which has launched an electrically stimulating skin-side shirt that generates light and measures the chest and upper body areas with different forms of electric current. Stinging can also cause muscle spasms, which is necessary to feel like you've been shot, stabbed, or blown up in the game.
And in the US, a company called HaptX is developing gloves that allow the wearer to accurately feel the texture of objects. The glove that the company is developing is based on a different technology that is more accurate and realistic than electrical currents. The technology relies on a network of tubes that contain an array of 135 sensitive balloons in each glove. Air is forced through the tubes to deliberately inflate and deflate the balloons, providing a different tactile sensation depending on the object touched. The fingers of the glove also contain a mechanism that mimics the motion of grasping objects to stop the fingers. The company says gloves won't be the only application of this technology because it plans to make full suits.
It should be noted that the aforementioned devices are still in limited availability and are aimed at game developers, but the market is expected to become more affordable and based on different technologies in the coming years. Although initially developed for gaming, these devices will be used in a variety of different virtual reality applications in the future.
In particular, last week a group of researchers announced the development of a technology that would enable the manufacture of high-resolution screens that can be used in virtual reality glasses to present sharp images that are indistinguishable from reality.