Fredz wrote:This technology looks very interesting, but I don't understand how it could be used as a replacement for haptics. Basically it only deals with muscles, but when you are hit by something your muscles are not necessarily involved in the process. Am I missing something ?
I imagine it would work by simulating 3rd Newtonian law: any action of virtual object on your body should produce equal and opposite reaction, that reaction should
come from your own muscle tones to oppose the virtual force, to me that's the main difference compared to using heptics.
The shown prototype in the article is ok for tablet-type gaming, but a bit useless for full-body VR.
Imagine virtual door in front of you, by pushing it open you feel resistance not only
on your palm, forearm, shoulder (and even torso if the door is heavy), all those groups
should be stimulated, albeit crudely, to approach the reasonably authentic feel
Ideally, one could wear several e-stimulation bandages to really feel the virtual objects and
their physics.
To me the carious question is one of physiology: how do we feel the surrounding objects
with our whole body (except for the tactile sensations at the skin-point of touch),
is it mainly opposite muscular tension/pain that gives away sensation of the overall force?
If not, how much (percentage-wise) muscular tones can contribute to simulating
the sensations, i.e. how much of a chance this technique can have in future VR 'peripherals'
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