Today, WEART is revealing a new haptic glove solution just in time for the Augmented World Expo 2024 (AWE 2024), where the leading haptic hardware vendor will showcase the new device and its enterprise value.
The new TouchDIVER Pro haptic glove introduces a new design that includes six additional actuation points covering all five fingers and the palm area. These new actuation points allow TouchDIVER Pro users to experience haptic feedback with increased accuracy, immersion, and sophistication.
Guido Gioioso, the CEO and co-founder of WEART, added:
The first version of the haptic interface, the TouchDIVER, only included tracking and actuation for the thumb, index, and middle fingers. This decision was made to control the device’s cost and complexity based on neuroscience findings that indicate we primarily use these three fingers to manipulate objects in everyday life. However, after conducting numerous demos, projects, and applications, user feedback highlighted the necessity of tracking and actuating all fingers. This enhancement increases the dexterity users can achieve when interacting with virtual objects and enhances the realism of the experience.
TouchDIVER Pro enables workers to use haptic gloves for use cases such as training, virtual prototyping, teleoperations, and immersive marketing experiences. To achieve this, WEART leveraged the expertise of its broad partner ecosystem to ensure its latest product is ready for the workplace.
TouchDIVER Pro New Features
WEART will officially introduce the TouchDIVER Pro device at AWE 2024 at booth 630, giving attendees an in-person product presentation and showcasing new features and abilities.
Gioioso explained:
At AWE, we are excited to unveil the TouchDIVER Pro for the first time. Gathering feedback from distributors, customers, and partners about the new product and its potential applications will be crucial for us. This event is undoubtedly the most important of the year for us. The TouchDIVER Pro device continues WEART’s commitment to providing workplace professionals with a multimodal haptic feedback solution that provides lifelike force feedback, texture rendering, and thermal cues when a user interacts with a digital object.
In addition to the new actuation points, TouchDIVER Pro contains full hand tracking of up to 0.6 degrees, which allows the device to replicate complex gestures. Moreover, TouchDIVER Pro is a pair of gloves that users can equip with both hands for the utmost immersion.
WEART plans to debut its haptic glove solution as an easy-to-set-up, accessible XR product. The firm is offering the TouchDIVER Pro with three connectivity modes, including WiFi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and tethered hardware, to suit a wide range of setups.
WEART also looks to support a range of mobile headsets and PCVR end devices to retain hardware accessibility and interoperability. WEART further pushes the device’s flexibility by leveraging an easy-to-wear form factor, zero adapters, and a hot-swappable battery.
On the developer side, WEART is also debuting a rich SDK full of features to enable streamlined, efficient tactile augmentation of XR contents and ensure realistic haptic configuration of XR experiences and objects.
Working with Customers to Ensure Success
WEART developed the new TouchDIVER Pro solution in collaboration with their customers, using extensive feedback and market analysis to ensure that the new glove is ready for enterprise environments today.
Since 2021, WEART has been gathering industry insights to ensure that its wearable haptic solutions will increase value among workers and decision-makers.
Gioioso also added:
The development of the TouchDIVER Pro has been guided by feedback and insights gathered over the past three years from customers and content developers using the first version, TouchDIVER. While the market has recognized the uniqueness of our core haptic technology, which uniquely combines force feedback, textures rendering, and thermal cues, certain aspects of the initial product design needed improvement. During the development of the TouchDIVER Pro, we focused on enhancing these areas while maintaining the same haptic core, resulting in a new design that we are confident will meet most customer needs.
With TouchDIVER Pro, customers can understand and leverage haptic with an increased business value. At AWE 2024, WEART will showcase the TouchDIVER Pro and its value to attendees before a market launch; the event takes place June 18th-20th in Long Beach, California.
