WeTac May Provide the Practical Haptic Feedback the Industry Desperately Needs
City University of Hong Kong researchers developed a promising wearable haptic feedback system called WeTac.
Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) are finally taking off, thanks the proliferation of affordable, high-quality headsets. With products like the Meta Quest 2 headset on the market at around $400, VR technology is now accessible to many consumers. But VR headsets only engage two sense: sight and hearing. The industry has desperately sought out haptic feedback technology to stimulate the sense of touch and City University of Hong Kong researchers developed a promising system called WeTac that may fit that need.
WeTac is haptic feedback technology in the form of thin, wearable patches that users can wear on their hands. The patches range in thickness from 0.22 to 1.00mm and are mostly transparent. They conform to the shape of hands, while stretching and flexing with the skin. That comes in stark contrast to the bulky and cumbersome haptic feedback gloves that we’ve seen before. A driver unit worn on the wrist provides power and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) connectivity. It weighs just 19.2g and measures 5cm square and 2.1mm thick. Thin, flexible ribbon cables connect the driver units to the hand patches.
The hand patches cover the palms and fingers. Each patch contains 32 electrotactile stimulation pixels, which are computer-controlled points capable of engaging the user’s sense of touch. By applying a small electric current, each pixel generates a noticeable sensation. WeTac is configurable to adjust the strength of the electrotactile stimulation, so it can suit the sensitivity of the individual and provide varying degrees of force proportional to actions in the virtual world. Clapping in VR would, for example, generate strong stimulation across all 32 pixels, while touching a VR button with a fingertip would only produce light stimulation through a single pixel.
WeTac has obvious appeal for VR gaming and metaverse interaction, but it would also be useful in industries like robotics. A robotic hand equipped with force sensors would be able to relay its sense of touch to an operator through WeTac, which would enable fine manipulation that is otherwise difficult to achieve.
WeTac’s creators haven’t yet commercialized the technology, but that appears to be almost inevitable. WeTac offers practicality that we haven’t seen from any other wearable haptic technology and the applications are endless, making the demand very high.