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Sony files three patents for Glove Controller for use with PlayStation VR

vpance

Member
Wouldn't be surprised if this gets fastracked for PSVR if it's a hit. Like the Wii Fit of Wii kind of thing.
 

watership

Member
le-labyrinthe-hunger-games-divergente-films.jpg
And here we go.


No no no. That's AR.
 
Gloves are basically the only way to get some good haptic feedback. I mean besides electrodes and neural implants. So it could be one of the missing components to fully immerse ourselves in virtual worlds.

SoftKinetic has amazing and very precise hand tracking technology, so they could easily go gloveless if they wanted. But just imagine being in VR and actually feeling like you are picking up objects or holding a weapon. A part of me really hopes this will materialize into an actual product and that it's easy to keep clean etc.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
If it has haptic feedback to make you feel like you're carrying something, I'm so in.
 

GloveSlap

Member
Gloves could work great if done properly. I'm actually picturing something like the plastic accessories for the Wii controller back in the day.

Squeezing your index finger to fire a gun would feel much better with a prop gun. Just like swinging a sword would feel much better with some kind of prop sword handle.
 

RibMan

Member
This looks crazy in a good way. The precision offered by fingers could lead to some really cool stuff. Imagine a next-gen Crayon Physics Deluxe, or a platformer where your index and middle finger act as the controls.
 

hesido

Member
Oh, btw, Sony, you may want to use this stiffness-change material so the glove can provide resistance to the hand that would give the ultimate physical feedback for holding shapes in hand. Add haptic feedback to fingertips and palm, and you are golden.

https://vimeo.com/114505535

You're welcome.
 

Taco_Man

Banned
Everyone seems to be forgetting that these patents were published at the end of 2014 and we won't be seeing PSVR until later this year. At most that gives them 2 years to have worked on this tech and pretty much perfect it for launch. If that's the case then PSVR might cost more because it will be bundled with this, BUT the tradeoff is that the experience will be insane. I for one really hope they can pull it off no matter how much more it makes PSVR cost. I'm already down to get it day one so this just adds to my hype.

It's time

latest

YES! I've always wanted to be in one of those battles and see how huge the monsters actually get.
 

LoveCake

Member
I cannot see it being something big & bulky especially if it is going to allow hand gestures that are as accurate to show as a gun or flowers, I think that the glove is going to be something pretty svelte in design.
 
Is it possible to have a series of rods/plastic strips leading to each finger that can lock at the joints so that when you grip something in game it stops your hand from closing? I think that would be fucking rad.
 
This could be awesome if done right.
Maybe for PSVR 2?

Is it possible to have a series of joints leading to each finger that can lock at the joints so that when you grip something in game it stops your hand from closing? I think that would be fucking rad.

Something like haptic feedback could help with that. Won't keep you from locking your joints but that sounds way too dangerous lol.
 
Keep in mind even if there are "better" ways to do hand tracking, Sony may not want to make the camera/PS4 do the extra work deciphering your bare hands and translating them into movements/gestures and then game input.

It might be less taxing to the system to just have it be partially done with the glove itself and only use a little bit of image recognition for the gestures etc. if that makes sense.

Dumbed down version:
If processing the VR game itself costs 70% of the system memory and tracking the headset lights and move controllers costs 30% of memory, the glove might keep the memory cost right at around 30%, whereas the full tracking of bare hands alone would be 25% which would be too much, and require devs that want to use it to dumb down their games.
 

tr00per

Member
Very interesting. This all makes sense to me except for three things

1. How would haptic feedback work?
2. How can you fit that many sensors into it?
I mean how do you physically fit them in and power them all? And if you could I imagine it would be super thick and kill your dexterity. A glove controller is probably the next best
possibility to full hand skeletal tracking but the whole point is for it to be natural
3. sanitation concerns from different users

Then again it could be just a protective patent to prevent others from making something. The index finger trackpad and pressure sensors are a really good idea. If this is actively being worked on I can’t imagine it being a ps4 product. Maybe ps5
 

Samemind

Member
Can you use Leap Motion without bringing your hands up? That could be another way a wearable peripheral could offer different advantages.
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
Thought there is free hand controls already, why do we need a glove controllers?
https://www.leapmotion.com/product/vr
Leap motion tech is awesome but it has a major flaw: it works as long as you are looking at your hands. Get your hands outside of sensor range and the system has no way of telling what you are doing with them.

Gloves with markers on them don't have this problem.

As for force feedback haptics I don't think they could make props redundant. Having your fingers "lock" around a virtual object doesn't recreate the same tactile feeling of touching it (which props provide). You still need something real in your hand, pushing against every inch of your skin that comes in contact with it.

A Glove/Move combo would be awesome tho.
 
Very interesting. This all makes sense to me except for three things

1. How would haptic feedback work?
2. How can you fit that many sensors into it?
I mean how do you physically fit them in and power them all? And if you could I imagine it would be super thick and kill your dexterity. A glove controller is probably the next best
possibility to full hand skeletal tracking but the whole point is for it to be natural
3. sanitation concerns from different users

Then again it could be just a protective patent to prevent others from making something. The index finger trackpad and pressure sensors are a really good idea. If this is actively being worked on I can’t imagine it being a ps4 product. Maybe ps5

I imagine something like a half glove that only really covers your thumbs, index and middle fingers. Haptic feedback would only really need to be delivered to the index fingers and thumbs.
 
Cool. I was on about this 2 years ago, I think it's important simply because it's the best way of generating tactile feedback, which is one of the biggest disconnects in VR. Tracking in occluded situations is also a big benefit.

Wait. Maybe I didn't look hard enough at the OP. These can generate haptic feedback? I remember playing around with a Novint Falcon years ago which could simulate weight, tension, textures etc. It was really cool. Until we reach that stage of haptics with our glove type controllers I still think it will be extremely gimmicky.

I see 7 and 8. But it's up in the air as to what they can actually do, I can't imagine there's enough pressure pads and haptic controller in those to generate anything beyond a superficial experience. But we'll see.
 

delta_reg

Member
I'm actually pretty excited that Sony filed for these patents. There isn't a better controller for VR than a glove could be, I feel. With proper tracking and feedback the amount you could do with it could blow any wand away, and much further immerse people into their virtual world.
 

Stiler

Member
I've long said when the current VR got started (Rift/Vive/PSVR) that a glove should be the main way to control things within a game.

Movie makers have been using similar gloves for years for mocap work in movies.

For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdCDOhD_7aA

Something like that is PERFECT for VR, all they need to do is work on some kind of feedback system to provide feedback for when you touch things.

The main hurdle would be haptic feedback (IE resistance) to mimic weight or restrict your movement when you come in contact with something. The current means to do this a little cumbersome, with overly huge pulleys and other things.

However a while back there was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5fZKcP8JBQ

Which looked like a step in doing it without any huge weight or overly cumbersome things.

If Sony can figure out a way to do this at a low-cast and not have it be cumbersome or anything I could definitely see it taking off.

However I am not sure how they can patent things like this so broadly, I mean one of those figures literally looks a lot like the glove in the first video I posted, with the long sensors down the fingers, etc.
 
Imagine if the prop you used for a lightsaber was a move controller. The move has all the additional controls needed for movement etc. But you can also take a hand away for gestures to use your force powers.
 
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