The term “virtual reality” is supposed to make clear the kind of experience we’re going to have. Most of the content enters through our eyes and ears, while the rest of our sensations must wait. But there is also the so-called “force feedback”, and if it can be applied to accessories like gamepads, why couldn’t we do something similar in virtual environments? That’s how we arrive at Impacto, a German development to turn virtual hits into real ones.
Virtual reality is closing ranks ahead of the first quarter of next year. Hardware and software alike will have to convincingly prove that the wait was worth it, and convince users to spend their money on a whole new generation of products. My reservations about virtual reality are based on the state of many projects, which have not yet left their prototype phase, and on details such as the high hardware requirements of the Oculus Rift. At the same time, we must consider space limitations (which are combated with treadmills), and obviously, the lack of sensations. At heart, nobody wants virtual headsets to be glorified monitors, so virtual reality could certainly use an extra ally.
That ally might be Impacto, a development from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany. What Impacto offers is a platform capable of reproducing virtual hits in the real world. The prototype combines actuators and electrodes that stimulate muscles with a light electrical current, generating the sensation of a hit on the “connected” part of the body. Its first steps as a boxing game for the Oculus Rift give it enormous potential, though we can’t help but think of racing games and space combat, feeling the impacts caused by enemy fire.
Needless to say, Impacto will need to refine its design and apply a good dose of miniaturization if it wants to reach the market. The institute seems to be taking it easy, and for now they don’t see it beyond the classic “proof of concept.” Something like Impacto might become more relevant once virtual reality enters its second or third generation.
