With the success of the Oculus Rift, we’re currently seeing a renaissance of interest in virtual reality (yes, for you young’uns out there, were was a VR craze back in the mid-90’s). Not only are companies like Sony launching themselves into the fray, a ecosystem of VR-related peripherals is apparently being built. The Dexmo Exoskeleton by Dexta Technologies, pictured above, is a perfect example. It’s an input-output device that attaches to your fingers and wrists and not only tracks their position, but is able to stop their movement when the virtual object you’re trying to grasp is actually gripped, letting you actually feel it. It’s a force-feedback VR controller, basically, and yes, it’s probably not the first such device hitting the scene. It is, however, the first seemingly affordable one, with a basic input-only version going for a $65 pledge. The more complete version does cost a more hefty $159, but that’s still somewhat reasonable for what it is. There is a catch, however, and that’s the fact that only the index finger and thumb receive force feedback, allowing you to pinch, rather than properly hold objects. Perhaps 5-digit feedback will be included in the next generation of the device, but for the early adopters out there, Dexmo seems like a great way to expand your VR explorations.
[ Project Page ] VIA [ Geek.com ]
