This is Teslasuit. While it may share the same name and looks as high-tech as the electric car maker, it is not related to Tesla Motors. Teslasuit is a company that is committed to develop haptic feedback suit that will provide a fully immersive environment for gaming, for use in motion capture, climate control et cetera. It lets the wearer touch and feel the digital environments over the entire body, be touched and become the natural full-body controller at the same time.
Here’s the principle behind Teslasuit:
“The Teslasuit is made of smart textile that transfers sensations from virtual world to the human body through tiny electrical impulses controlled by an on-board mini-computer (Control Unit). It tracks the entire body motion with high precision and frequency. It also allows to feel the environment temperature changes thanks to advanced climate control system.”
“The haptic feedback system modulates a range of sensations, including soft touch, heavy and light impact, rain or wind-blowing. The system delivers precise sensations to the entire body and can also be used to stimulate specific muscle groups. It is easy to use, absolutely wire-free, has universal compatibility with the existing devices and is washable.”
Basically it is the IOI VR haptic suit from Ready Player One (2018, Amblin Entertainment) in real life, but with applications beyond gaming. Not only the suit lets you feel hits in the virtual reality world physically, but can also used as a training aid in health and fitness industry and as a kinaesthetic learning tool. While we are glad to know it has uses beyond gaming, it is its gaming application that recall the scenes played out in Ready Player One that has our attention.
As of now, Teslasuit said it has a growing list of supported haptic VR games and the company is partnering with game developers to integrate Teslasuit with both existing and new games. With the Teslasuit, you will not only feel the weapon force feedback, feel the impact of a hit by any weapon or even by punches, but you will be able to feel hugs too. How’s that for the future of gaming?
Unfortunately, you can buy it with game credits like Wade Watts (played by Tye Sheridan) did, nor can you buy it with real money yet. However, if you are a developer, you will be able to pick up the Development Kits now, or if you are a business entity which Teslasuit can help, you can touch base with Teslasuit to get a quote for a unit. In the meantime, you can see what Teslasuit can do in a video where CNET’s Lexy suits up in one and have a go with it.
Images: Teslasuit.
Source: YouTube (CNET).
