If you thought that extended reality headsets were transforming the workplace, just wait until you start upgrading your immersive experiences with the sense of touch. Wearable haptics, for business use cases like training, collaboration, and even product design, are becoming increasingly popular.
These days, we have a lot more than just VR gloves bringing “tangibility” into immersive environments. Companies are experimenting with vests, full-body suits, haptic chairs, rings, wristbands – the works. It’s a bold new world, and the benefits of tactile feedback might go a lot further than you’d think, particularly when combined with other cutting-edge XR tech.
The way we experience digital environments, particularly in the enterprise, is about to change forever. Here’s why that’s a good thing.
The Benefits of Wearable Haptics for Business
Extended reality is gaining traction in the enterprise landscape because it makes experiences more “immersive”. Connecting with team members in a virtual-reality meeting room drives better communication, engagement levels, and creativity than getting in touch with a video call.
Repairing equipment in the field is much easier and safer when you have real-time guidance from a remote subject mater expert. Even designing products is quicker, and more cost-effective with an extended reality headset. Wearable haptics for business take the immersion a step further, by incorporating the sense of touch.
Just look at the WEART TouchDIVER Pro glove, which replicates weight, force, and even temperature signals when users interact with a digital item – or the bHaptics Tactsuit that simulates full body sensations for hands-on training scenarios.
At first, haptic systems might have seemed like a “novel” accessory for the XR space, but they’re gaining ground, thanks to benefits like:
Enhancing User Experience and Accessibility
When a digital environment starts to feel three-dimensional – when you can sense texture, or get a little buzz reminding you of a crucial piece of data – the experience evolves. Wearable haptics for business improve engagement and user experiences by adding a tactile layer to interactions.
This also leads to higher efficiency, productivity, and even faster problem-solving. For instance, it feels a lot more natural to draw on a virtual whiteboard in a Microsoft Immersive Spaces meeting when you can feel the pressure of the board against your pen.
You’ll feel more “connected” to your task when you’re designing a new product in extended reality if you can feel the elements of that item. As an example, Haply Robotic’s haptic mouse can replicate a digital objects texture, weight, elasticity, edges, and viscosity. That tactile feedback can help to improve design precision.
Beyond that, tactile solutions can improve the work experience for all kinds of people with accessibility challenges. Employees can use haptic interfaces with tangible pulses or vibrations that guide them through menus, documents, and processes, making the workplace more inclusive.
Stronger Learning and Training Opportunities
Immersive learning is taking the enterprise landscape by storm. Studies have constantly shown that using extended reality in training leads to better knowledge retention, improved engagement, higher performance results, and faster skill development.
Haptic feedback makes training simulations feel even more realistic, driving even better results. With wearable haptics for business training, companies can create highly realistic “virtual” environments where people can interact with machinery and different scenarios without being exposed to any common risks.
For instance, an emergency responder can learn how to navigate a burning home, with a suite that replicates the vibration and temperature settings of a dangerous environment. A medical professional can learn how to perform a surgery without a cadaver, feeling the weight of the scalpel in their hand, and the pressure of the “body” beneath their fingers.
One study from the National Library of Medicine even proved that haptic feedback in VR simulations improved trainee performance in bone-drilling tasks. Basically, haptic feedback introduces all the benefits of hands-on training experiences, without the downsides of “decommissioned” equipment or potential safety risks.
Safer Employee Experiences
Speaking of safety, integrating wearable haptics into business operations can do a lot more than just help companies create less dangerous training simulations. For example, in a dangerous setting, like a manufacturing plant, a company could give their team members a haptic body suit that gently nudges them when it detects signs of temperature fluctuations, or they start moving into dangerous areas.
A simple haptic wristband or ring could begin vibrating as soon as a person in a VR simulation is about to walk too close to a ledge, or when a worker in a chemical plant enters a room with a leak.
These haptic tools can also gather information about employees (such as temperature levels, heart rate, etc), and share information immediately with business leaders. This could make it easier for managers to determine when certain employees are facing serious threats.
That kind of data, combined with the insights collected from a camera on a tool like the Meta Orion prototype glasses, could seriously reduce the risk of accidents in workplaces and give companies more of the insights they need to improve training strategies.
Strengthening Collaboration
Improving collaboration might not be the first use case companies think of when they’re exploring the benefits of wearable haptics for business. However, a sense of touch can definitely improve team experiences. For instance, employees sick of stale zoom calls can sit at a virtual conference table, pass a prototype to a colleague, and literally feel the transfer of weight as it leaves their hands.
They can feel the pressure of a pen on a virtual whiteboard or sense a colleague tapping them on the shoulder when they want attention. Haptic gloves could even empower employees to physically shake hands with new colleagues and customers, increasing emotional bonds.
Plus, during certain collaborative sessions, haptic wearables can deepen the immersion for everyone involved. For example, in the automotive industry, multiple experts could work together in a metaverse environment where they can physically interact with components.
Advances in robotic technology and IoT solutions could even create a future where team members can physically build items together from a distance, controlling mechanical arms and fingers with natural gestures, without having to travel.
Transforming Remote and Field Work
Speaking of using haptic “controllers” in the workplace, wearable haptics for business could pave the way to new opportunities for employees to complete complex tasks from a distance. Technicians could wear haptic gloves and control robots stationed miles away – feeling the texture of a corroded pipe or how loose a specific screw is from a distance.
The Dutch military has even experimented with using haptic systems to teach recruits how to assemble satellite receivers in VR. In the future, they could use similar tools to allow those employees to build those satellites remotely.
AMI Lab is already working with WEART on a system that will enable staff members to control a robotic arm with the TouchDIVER glove, reducing travel costs and potentially minimizing the need for staff to visit dangerous environments.
On a broad scale, the combination of haptic wearables and robotics could minimize the cost associated with field work by allowing all kinds of employees to complete tasks from their office rather than having to visit a site in person.
Get Ready to Feel the Future of Work
Although there’s still a way to go before wearable haptics for business become as commonplace as the standard VR headset, these tools are definitely grabbing attention. The opportunities in the enterprise will only continue to evolve as innovators make haptic systems more accessible, affordable, and versatile, catering to a range of use cases.
In the future, we could see countless companies decking their team members out with haptic suits, gloves, and armbands that improve productivity, reduce risk, transform training, and even make collaborative experiences feel more engaging.
Ready to learn more about the power of haptics? Check out our guide to haptics, user tracking, and the future of the immersive workplace. Alternatively, discover how haptic systems are already improving training experiences across industries.
