Countdown begins for new VR interaction mechanics

Oct 25, 2014 06:42 GMT  ·  By

Hands are already pretty accurately animated in many games, and characters can perform various tasks like picking things up, throwing grenades, or grabbing an apple. However, these are all scripted, not something you can really do yourself.

Wanting to provide a whole new level of immersion, especially now that virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift are finally viable from a marketing standpoint, Chinese Company Dexta Robotics has revealed the Dexmo.

Dexmo is essentially a pair of hand exoskeletons mounted on the backs of your hands and connected to your fingers.

The idea is that they will allow you to actually move the fingers of your in-game avatar, instead of relying on pre-programmed actions.

The Demxo comes in 2 versions: Classic and F2

The Dexmo Classic can detect the rotation of the thumb, the bending of each particular finger, the degree to which they are split apart from each other, and how the hand moves in space.

By extension, it lets you manipulate on-screen fingers, control real-world robotic devices or software through finger gestures (assuming your PC doesn't have motion sensing already), translate American sign language text, and even create animated hand models.

How the hand moves in space is something Dexmo can read thanks to Dexta Robotics installing an inertial measurement unit that can track the hand as it moves through space on the X, Y, and Z axes.

All in all, it's a pretty “dextrous' piece of work, one that would have probably carried the company through the tumultuous waters of the worldwide market on its own.

Nevertheless, Dexta Robotics didn't want to settle for just one set of hand exoskeletons, so it also made the Dexmo F2.

Mostly identical to the Dexmo Classic, it also provides force feedback by means of disc brakes (installed in each finger joint) controlled by an actuator. So if your in-game fingers settle on an equally virtual object, the exoskeleton joints will arrest the movement of your real fingers accordingly.

The only limitation is that the joints do this by following an on/off policy, so to speak. Your finger movement is fully halted once your in-game digit touches something. Future models should offer more flexibility though.

Availability and pricing

The Dexmo Classic and Dexmo F2 exoskeleton hands from Dexta Robotics are the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. The kits for each cost $65 / €65 and $159 / €159, respectively, but when shipments begin next June (assuming the campaign accumulates the needed cash) the retail price will probably be a bit higher.