Imagine putting on a virtual reality headset--say Oculus Rift or Samsung Gear VR-- along with a band and being able to feel the objects you hit or being hit when gaming in virtual reality. That would be cool right? The folks at German's Hasso Plattner InstituteHuman-Computer Interaction (HCI) lab are working to make that happen.
They have created working models of a device known as Impacto that allows you and your opponent to feel the impact of punches in your faces and other things, just the way it is in real life, when gaming in virtual reality. Impacto is embedded in a band and uses HCI's special software with a virtual reality headset to produce the feeling. The Impactor device can be worn on the different parts of the body such as on your leg or arm so you could carryout maneuvers like kicking.
According to the team, Impacto is a device designed to render the haptic sensation of hitting or being hit in virtual reality. The key idea that allows the small and light impacto device to simulate a strong hit is that it decomposes the stimulus: it renders the tactile aspect of being hit by tapping the skin using a solenoid; it adds impact to the hit by thrusting the user's arm backwards using electrical muscle stimulation. Watch the demo above.