BeBop Sensors has been demonstrating its latest Forte Data Glove iteration at technology show CES for the past several years and next week’s event is no different. What has changed is the addition of greater hardware support including Oculus Quest and glove features, with haptics now available.
The company actually revealed the addition of Oculus Quest a couple of months back but CES 2020 will be used to officially announced the haptic feedback Forte Data Glove version. Alongside the Oculus Quest, BeBop Sensors has confirmed that Oculus Rift S, Windows Mixed Reality, HTC Vive Cosmos, HTC Vive Pro, HTC Focus Plus, and Varjo are all supported, as well as Oculus Link.
While all that headset support may sound consumer-friendly, like most gloves designed for virtual reality (VR) use the Forte Data Glove is still enterprise-focused. Namely towards training and maintenance applications. That doesn’t mean to say it can’t be used for gaming purposes, ideal for location-based entertainment (LBE) purposes.
Designed to be a one size fits all glove, the haptic feedback – which VRFocus first encountered back in 2018 – comes from 6 haptic actuators located on 4 fingertips, the thumb, and the palm. This helps users feel actions from hitting buttons, turning knobs and opening doors to simple things like texture feedback. Up to 16 unique haptic sound files can be resident on the glove with new files uploaded over Bluetooth or USB when available.
Available to purchase now – although no price is given on the website, you need to submit a request form – the gloves also feature a 9-degree IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) providing low drift and a pre-blended accelerometer and gyro sensor. BeBop Sensors claims the Forte Data Glove has a sub-6 millisecond response time and all-day battery life. To make sure the gloves are suitable for multiple users they are cleanable and breathable with waterproof sensors.
How well they work now since VRFocus’ last time using the Forte Data Glove remains to be seen, so we’ll be at CES 2020 to test the new version out. There will be some competition as Teslasuit will be demoing its latest device. VRFocus will continue its coverage of BeBop Sensors, reporting back with the latest updates.
via Mint VR