The leader in haptic wearables gains a significant partner to help deploy the TouchDIVER portfolio
Leading into the new year, virtual reality training is growing as the broader XR market also emerges as a tool for work and everyday life. Regarding the well-established virtual reality market, immersive training and learning tools are easily one of the largest XR opportunities for businesses worldwide outside of gaming and entertainment use cases.
Virtual training can save time, money, and lives by allowing workers from dangerous or demanding environments to learn without risking themselves and their working space or disrupting on-site workflows.
Moreover, virtual reality learning environments provide a training experience that can mimic real-world spaces, objects, machinery, people, and situations. This can help companies save time and money by removing new learners from a working environment and creating digital resources.
Immersive learning’s realism is paramount for a trainee to understand the skills they require before going on-site; in theory, the more realistic an immersive space is, the more likely it is for a trainee to take their virtual lessons with them on-site.
That’s where haptics comes in. Realistic haptics enable workers to experience the tactile feedback of virtual objects or machinery without risk of injury or financial loss.
WEART, a leader in enterprise-grade haptic feedback devices, spent 2024 demonstrating that its TouchDIVER product portfolio adds significant value to immersive training modules by creating more realistic immersive applications.
WEART’s haptic feedback solutions aim to amplify this by simulating elements like force, texture, and temperature in relation to immersive learning objects. This enhancement allows learners to improve their situational awareness, dexterity, and coordination during simulation exercises.
Connecting Modern Businesses with Modern Innovation
More recently, WEART initiated a working relationship with MAIZE, a company connecting modern businesses with innovative technology vendors. The duo deployed realistic digital training tools to MAIZE’s deep client list.
MAIZE aims to secure its clients with immersive tools that help train staff safely when they practice procedures, assess risks, and test skills virtually.
“We often discuss on how to make the virtual experiences more engaging and immersive,” explained Guido Polcan, Senior Direct at MAIZE, who also notes how the firm is working with haptics to “bridge the digital divide that still generates resistance to the widespread adoption of technologies.”
MAIZE is choosing to leverage the WEART TouchDIVER G1 haptic device to bridge that digital technology gap for businesses due to the product’s user responsiveness, immediacy, and accuracy—MAIZE calls these TouchDIVER G1 capabilities “non-negotiable.”
Polcan expalined:
When it comes to virtual reality and Real-Time in general, we still rely heavily on physical joysticks as interaction tools. Over the years, we’ve observed that while these devices are highly effective for experienced users, they often present a challenge for newcomers. This leads to unnatural movements and interactions, which can skew simulation results.
Moreover, with the transition from controllers to haptic gloves comes increased immersion and control over an environment, allowing workers to interact more directly with and react to an immersive space.
Moreover, as the digital training sector moves towards hand-tracking and haptic gloves, the need for controllers and the difficulty of worker VR hardware familiarity will decrease. This transition can help change executives’ perceptions of gaming and build confidence around XR in the workplace as a serious tool.
Additional benefits of WEART’s haptics gloves solution include the product’s wearability, which includes adaptability to different hand sizes and easy sanitization.
“Haptic technologies, particularly those that are wearable, offer a much more natural and intuitive way of interacting, making the experience feel more spontaneous and believable,” remarked Polcan.
More on TouchDIVER Pro
The WEART TouchDIVER portfolio is renowned for its actuation point features, which distribute force feedback, texture rendering, and thermal cues across the fingers and palm area, creating a realistic simulation of object sensations in AR, VR, and MR business applications.
The new WEART device, TouchDIVER Pro haptic glove has six actuation points, including all the 5 fingertips and palm. The haptic feedback replicates the feeling of a device’s texture, weight, and even temperature, with the glove able to create thermal ranges between 15°C and 42°C.
The device has a small and unintrusive form factor, only weighing 200 grams, which creates less friction between workers and their XR environment. Moreover, the device is ready for a lengthy and in-depth training session.
Furthermore, the TD Pro package supports both tethered and stand-alone use, giving mentors flexibility in how they leverage the haptic device in their training sessions.
WEART’s TouchDIVER Pro product works across headsets, including Meta Quest, Pico, HTC, and Windows Mixed Reality compatibility. It also supports XR experiences built on Unity and Unreal Engine SDKs.
The TouchDIVER Pro device also comes with its own SDK, ready for users to quickly create a custom learning experience. It includes a textures library to help teams get started, with 22 ready-to-go textures allowing businesses to replicate objects in virtual spaces.
As virtual training becomes increasingly commonplace, innovative methods of input and immersion will soon follow, as firms such as WEART help lead the space toward fully immersive environments.
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