This haptic exoskeleton brings virtual reality to the next level

Chinese company Dexta Robotics set out to develop a hand motion-capturing device last year, but instead of creating a glove like everybody else, they designed an impressively affordable exoskeleton. This device called Dexmo can be used as a virtual reality or a robot controller. For VR, it serves as a way to interact with the digital world within systems like the Oculus Rift, the F2 version even has haptic feedback, letting you feel the size of the virtual object you’ve picked up on screen.

The world of virtual reality is constantly expanding, even though the major gaming headsets still aren’t yet available to consumers – the most recent piece of interesting hardware is a hand exoskeleton that allows users to “feel” objects within virtual reality. It’s called Dexmo (missed opportunity to use the way-cooler name “Phantom Limb”) and it comes from Dexta Robotics. Dexta imagines a lineup of uses for Dexmo, including music production (a la Imogen Heap), drawing, rehabilitation, animation and, of course, virtual-world immersion. The company offers comparisons to similar VR input devices, including Leap Motion, which it classifies as an optical solution and as such can’t offer any haptic feedback. Dexmo does have haptic technology, but it can’t simulate “softness,” a Dexta team member said in a Reddit AMA.