New smart glove enables wearer to grab virtual objects

In order to make virtual reality (VR) more realistic and tangible, researchers have created a new glove that makes the wearer grab virtual objects.

A team of scientists in Korea recently created a new high-tech glove that turns the wearer’s hand into a kind of controller for VR experiences, tricking their brains to believe that they are actually grabbing an object that is not physically present and is only in VR.

As per Futurism, the smart glove, dubbed as a ‘pneumatic actuator and flexible piezoelectric sensor’, works by sending out an electrical signal that allows the soft material to contract when anyone ‘touches’ something in VR, hence mimicking the sensations of controlling digital objects.

With the help of sensors, the VR glove can tell the computer where the virtual hand should go, while the actuators in the glove provide a type of sensation for the user’s actual hand, explained Discover Magazine.

Through this process, the person could not only ‘feel’ virtual objects, but can also grab and hold them, also feeling the shape of the objects in their hand. The team believes that although the glove is not yet consumer-ready, it can still pose as a significant step towards making VR more immersive.