SenseGlove Nova 2 adds palm pressure feedback to the force feedback VR glove.
Gloves are considered the final ultimate form of virtual reality input. Most “VR gloves” simply have vibration motors on each finger, but force feedback gloves like the Nova series go further by actually limiting the movement of your fingers in response to a virtual object or surface.
The original Nova has been shipped end of 2021 for $5000, and the new Nova 2 maintains this price. $5000 may sound like a lot, but that's actually cheaper than most other force feedback gloves.
Nova 2 adds palm pressure feedback.
Like the original, Nova 2 can provide up to 20 Newtons of resistance to your thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger, which is equivalent to the weight of a 2kg brick on each finger. The thumb and index finger also have vibrotactile actuators for traditional haptic feedback, allowing Nova to simulate the texture of virtual surfaces.
But while the original only applied feedback and resistance to your fingers, Nova 2 takes it a step further by applying pressure to your palm. SenseGlove claims this allows for more realistic simulation of drills, saws and grinders, hammers, pliers and rehabilitation tools, and even lets users feel a handshake in collaborative VR applications.
The original Nova is already used for training.
Nova Gloves don't have built-in positional tracking, but include mounts for HTC Vive trackers or Quest Touch controllers. They can be paired with a standalone headset or a PC via Bluetooth. Developers of custom enterprise apps can integrate SenseGlove's Unity, Unreal or native SDK to support force feedback and haptic features.
The original Nova is already used by Volkswagen to train assembly workers in production, by MedVR for medical training and by Extend Robotics to remotely control robots. The Royal Netherlands Army has also tried training equipment assembly engineers. While force feedback gloves remain a distant dream for the consumer market, companies like SenseGlove, Contact CI, and HatpX have created a real market for them in the corporate space.