Driver-X's gloves are a cheaper way to get hands on in the metaverse
The Contact Glove system can also double as a VR controller
There are two words that will make gamers of a certain age go weak at the knees: Power Glove. We’re not saying Driver-X was inspired by the legendary Nintendo accessory when conceiving its “Contact Glove” VR controller, but the comparisons are going to be inevitable.
Driver-X’s haptic VR gloves do double duty as both a sensory feedback tool for “grabbing” objects in a virtual world and a VR controller. The company claims it’s the first VR glove that uses micro coils to deliver a more authentic tactile experience. The coils surround your fingers and when a current is applied they contract a connected film to provide, hopefully, a more realistic sensory experience.
The controller part uses hand “poses” and gestures to mimic the buttons and triggers found on conventional controllers. It’s a logical way to add extra functionality, especially as the whole point is to not be holding something (not something in the real world at least).
Perhaps the more interesting “feature” is the price. The Contact Glove starts at around $1,850 which is considerably less than some of the current alternatives (although each approach is quite different and maybe not directly comparable).
Either way, if you’re interested in getting your palms in a pair, it’s worth knowing that the gloves are currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. At the very least, the goal has already been reached, and we did see a working demo here at CES but the usual caveats apply.
