Thermal haptic glove for VR | soft-biorobotics-lab

Thermal Haptic Glove for VR

Thermal perception is essential for the survival and daily activities of people. Thus, it is desirable to realize thermal feedback stimulation for improving the sense of realism in virtual reality (VR) for users. For thermal stimulus, conventional systems utilize liquid circulation with bulky external sources or thermoelectric devices (TEDs) on rigid structures. However, these systems are difficult to apply to compact wearable gear used for complex hand motions to interact with VR. Furthermore, generating a rapid temperature difference, especially cooling, in response to a thermal stimulus in real-time is challenging for the conventional systems. To overcome this challenge and enhance wearability, we developed an untethered real-time thermal display glove.

Seung-Won Kim*, Sung Hee Kim*, Choong Sun Kim, Kyoungsoo Yi, Jun-Sik Kim, Byung Jin Cho, and Youngsu Cha, “Thermal display glove for interacting with virtual reality,” Scientific Reports, 10, 11403, July 2020. (*Co-first authorship) [Link]