Virtual reality is still a relatively new concept, but to be able to use your hands and do whatever you want in virtual reality is next level. Just the other day Zuckerberg posted on his Facebook account a series of photos from his grand tour to Oculus Research based in Redmond, Washington, where he was given the opportunity to see their recent developments, one of which includes a prototype for super cool VR gloves.
“We’re working on new ways to bring your hands in virtual and augmented reality. Wearing these gloves, you can draw, type on a virtual keyboard, and even shoot webs like Spider Man. That’s what I’m doing here.” – a statement from Zuckerberg’s Facebook page.
The team is led by Michael Abrash, who left Valve in 2014, and their goal is “to make VR and AR what we all want it to be: glasses small enough to take anywhere, software that lets you experience anything, and technology that lets you interact with the virtual world just like you do with the physical one.”
Since Oculus had joined forces with Pebbles Interfaces, a hand-tracking tech startup, it’s no surprise they were able to develop the mechanics for gloves in virtual reality. The gloves themselves have a slim form-factor, and it’s important to note that the hardware used with the gloves appears to be rather expensive Optitrack cameras for the system, rather than the usual Oculus Sensor tracking system. This would mean it’d work out cheaper for Oculus as they wouldn’t have to build their own cameras also.
Hand tracking has always been a difficult concept to develop in virtual reality due to the details it would require such as registering swift finger motions on camera. If the right software and hardware are created, it would be able to advance virtual and augmented reality technology to the next level and this is what Oculus seem to be pushing to achieve.