VR Grabbers Allow You to Use Precision Tools in Virtual Reality

Using haptic feedback controllers and gloves in applications add to the experience by being able to touch and feel different objects. When it comes to training and simulation in VR, those devices become everything but useless if the app requires the use of specialized tools for precision handiwork — think medical and engineering applications.

Controllers, gloves, or positioning cameras just don’t cut it for skilled work, which is why Stanford University Computer Science student Jackie Yang (and several HP engineers) designed their VR Grabbers — a platform that combines a specialized haptic feedback grabbing tool along with the HTC Vive to mimic precision tools (tweezers, pliers, etc.) in a virtual environment.

Yang and his team designed the VR Grabbers using a pair of chopstick-like handles, a haptic prop block affixed to the bottom stick, an HTC Vive VR Tracker (to track position and orientation), a potentiometer to provide an opening angle, and a joint/spring between both sticks for actuation.

An onboard microcontroller reads the values produced by the potentiometer and sends them back to the VR Tracker, thus recreating the tool’s orientation and position within that VR setting, which is viewed through an HTC Vive headset outfitted with a pair of Lighthouses.

The haptic prop block allows for grabbing different sized objects in the virtual world, making the Grabber appear more or less open to the viewer without the block present, essentially tricking the mind to what’s being perceived.

Yang and his team state that the VR Grabbers platform can be adapted for use with other tools (like those mentioned earlier) to achieve the same effect. They go on to say that the technology could also be incorporated into glove form, enabling users to use their thumbs and fingers to manipulate different sized objects.