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Disney's 'Force Jacket' prototype allows you to feel every VR punch

It has the potential to turn VR and AR into a more immersive experience.

We're only starting to take advantage of all that AR and VR can offer. Now, the challenge is to make the experience immersive, engaging your entire body in whatever your brain is perceiving. That's just what Disney is working on with the Force Jacket.

Up until this point, any feedback your body receives during AR and VR is in the form of vibrations and touching a handheld device. The Force Jacket allows for an array of airbags and sensors to provide sensation over the entire upper body though applications of force and high-frequency vibrations. Users can feel touching, squeezing, punching, hugging and even the sensation of a snake moving across the body thanks to this jacket.

This type of jacket could really revolutionize the way people interact with VR. Imagine if you could feel every punch or every bullet in a first person shooter. It has interesting and, frankly, fantastic implications for the future of the technology and the immersive reality it can provide.

Now, I realize that the Force Jacket is in the very early stages of development. But I can't help but thinking that because this is a Disney project and it's a "Force Jacket" -- can you see where I'm going here? It's screaming for Star Wars branding, is all I'm saying.