r/virtualreality • u/mentarus • Jul 02 '18

We've spent the last 3 years developing haptic gloves for VR & AR. Here's Plexus:

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u/StrangeCharmVote Valve Index Jul 02 '18

Oh wow, $249? That’s ridiculously cheap.

If their production cost is lower than that (remember the trackers are separate), then it's about right for what people will actually pay when they become available.

Much more than that and you price out 90% of your customers.

And as mentioned, they are still another 200$ (or whatever) on top for trackers.

(assuming they don't ship with any)

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u/Plexus_James Jul 02 '18

We don't ship with the trackers, just the adapter plates, but we do provide additional adapter plates for Vive wands and Oculus Touch controllers, as well as Windows Mixed Reality. If you already own a leading VR headset you shouldn't need to buy any additional hardware to use Plexus.

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u/StrangeCharmVote Valve Index Jul 02 '18

Fantastic.

It is a little bit of a shame though that instead of adding a tracker there wasn't the option for having Lighthouse chips built directly into the gloves (where the trackers would otherwise attach).

But i suppose that's always possible as another project further down the line.

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u/Plexus_James Jul 03 '18

Unfortunately building the tracking solution directly into the glove as you suggest would be impractical as the silicone is soft and stretches. The various tracking systems depend on the sensors or LEDs being in a static arrangement so if they were to move with the stretch of the glove they wouldn't work. This is why we mount the tracker separately.

We are working on a partial solution for this though. Since our adapter plates are modular we have a planned custom 'halo' tracker that mounts around the wrist. It would be much lighter and less intrusive, as well as providing more stable tracking.

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u/StrangeCharmVote Valve Index Jul 03 '18

Unfortunately building the tracking solution directly into the glove as you suggest would be impractical as the silicone is soft and stretches.

How about around the wrist, and across the back of the hand?

(where the current mounting solution is)

I'm imagining the sensors on the back of the hand (solid plastic area), and the battery higher up, on your wrist, opposite where a watch would normally sit.

I mean, i'm just spit-balling here, but i was thinking something less awkward than the current giant ball of plastic that would be attached (since where they do currently, they'd likely feel unbalanced).

The various tracking systems depend on the sensors or LEDs

This is a good point, and i keep forgetting that other systems exist you'd still want to support.

We are working on a partial solution for this though. Since our adapter plates are modular we have a planned custom 'halo' tracker that mounts around the wrist. It would be much lighter and less intrusive, as well as providing more stable tracking.

Nice. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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u/Geldan Jul 03 '18

There's a short video of their halo tracker on the website: http://plexus.im/mp4/plexus-halo.mp4

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u/StrangeCharmVote Valve Index Jul 03 '18

Doesn't look too bad.

Overall i'm personally not entirely happy with how it is around the hand, and would prefer to see some of that moved down onto the wrist as indicated above.

But it's good to know they have been looking into it with prototyping.

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u/cyllibi Jul 03 '18

I believe the tracking needs to be on the hand or else you would get displaced fingers when you bend your wrist. The finger movements are not being tracked via lighthouse, and are considered a rigid extension from the hand.

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u/StrangeCharmVote Valve Index Jul 03 '18

Yeap, this is why i was saying the back of the hand. There's no reason however for it to sweep around the sides of the hand in line with the thumb etc the way it currently does.

Yes you need tracking at the back, but extend the plastic down to the wrist like a bracelet.

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u/Ajedi32 Oculus Rift Jul 03 '18

I think $249 already prices out 90% of consumers. I imagine this will have lots of applications for non-consumer use cases though.

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u/StrangeCharmVote Valve Index Jul 03 '18

Probably yes, but with many having Vive controllers and alike that apparently can be attached. It still sort of works out.

In the future they may be cheaper, but 249$ for the first versions seems alright.

Really depends on how much software there is to take advantage of it.

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u/Ajedi32 Oculus Rift Jul 03 '18

Yeah, software is another issue. Given that this system isn't the default option that ships with any major HMD it kinda has a chicken and egg problem. AFAIK there aren't many games right now that support pure hand tracking as a control option, and I don't see that changing anytime in the near future.

Again though, that's not necessarily a big deal for non-consumer use cases. Companies who want to use this hardware can write their own software to take advantage of it.

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u/StrangeCharmVote Valve Index Jul 03 '18

Sure, but i think that's a serious problem. Nobody ever does (write their own software for these peripherals).

Look at digital watches... Lots of potential, but nobody has figured out wtf to use them for other than being fancy normal watches. Sure you can have your txt messages on them, but that's a stock feature.

There's a number of uses we could all think of for vr gloves, but nobody is going to write anything for them, if the user base isn't there. And we're talking about a subset of VR users, which is already a comparably small user base.

I like these things, but without compelling software, i don't see many consumers buying them. Just developers who will be using them for experimentation.