6 ms·

LucidVR open source force feedback VR gloves

170 points by danboarder 5y ago

rejectedandsad 5y ago
Very cool project, though not yet at the point where non-MIT untermensch like me can build a replica easily. I’m eagerly awaiting prebuilt controller+force feedback kits that we can attach to our own gloves (instead of getting them from retractable badge holders).
- tootie 5y ago
  This looks like a plausible build for an eager hobbyist. PhD not required. There was an open source AR headset released a few years back and my company put one together with a smattering of off-the-shelf parts and a consumer-grade 3d printer in a few weeks with just a few regular devs with undergrad degrees. The parts list for this device is nothing you can't find on amazon/aliexpress/digikey and it says you can use an Ender or any other FDM printer (no mention of filament, but I'm guessing that means PLA is ok). https://developer.leapmotion.com/northstar https://developer.leapmotion.com/northstar
mdaniel 5y ago
> will be making a DIY treadmill eventually as well for those who would prefer that Whoa, that could be neat and I don't even currently have a VR setup
- dylan604 5y ago
  I want room sized treadmills like they had in the early '90s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkIs37a2JE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkIs37a2JE
  - Cycl0ps 5y ago
    That was actually staged. They built the walls as a floating frame that could be moved around him. It wasn't until a decade later that we started seeing prototypes for roomscale treadmills like these: https://youtu.be/dTAAsCNK7RA https://youtu.be/dTAAsCNK7RA
    - dylan604 5y ago
      shhhh, you'll ruin the virtualness of it
kbenson 5y ago
The project page seems to be at https://hackaday.io/project/178243-lucidvr-budget-haptic-glove https://hackaday.io/project/178243-lucidvr-budget-haptic-glo..., and has a good video explaining the process he went through to get it working and what actually goes into it.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  One usecase though for him is to use your hands in VR. Hand tracking already has that covered though it's not yet perfect. But much more natural than using gloves. Being able to feel things in VR would be a big thing though. Especially if the gloves can also push back. So you could push against a wall and feel it. But in order for that to happen they'd have to be attached to something, not sure how that would work. But it does look like he's got feedback of hand held objects working which would be interesting too.
  - wizzwizz4 5y ago
    > But in order for that to happen they'd have to be attached to something, Only if you care about getting momentum right. If you push against a wall, feel pressure on your hand, and your viewpoint moves away from the wall, then (apart from the motion sickness) that's a pretty good wall simulator.
    - webmaven 5y ago
      > > But in order for that to happen they'd have to be attached to something, > Only if you care about getting momentum right. If you push against a wall, feel pressure on your hand, and your viewpoint moves away from the wall, then (apart from the motion sickness) that's a pretty good wall simulator. In theory, you could get a bit more resistance than just the tactile feeling of pressure by bracing against the user's body in some fashion, but mechanically that might be hard to accomplish without what amounts to a wearable robot arm automagically interposing surfaces wherever you are supposed to feel them (and of course it would fail fairly dramatically as soon as you tried to lean against a wall or a tree).
  - 5y ago
de6u99er 5y ago
Mainstream VR is dead IMO.
- owlbynight 5y ago
  You're very wrong. It's waiting for an app that gets shared video viewing right. Bigscreen VR is close, but not quite there.
  - nixpulvis 5y ago
    The headsets need to get a lot more balanced and lighter for extended use. I don't want a buff neck.
    - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
      Quest 2 is already very light and causes no issues to my girlfriend who is really petite. So no, you don't need a buff neck.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    I don't know, I love VR and I don't think it's dead but shared video watching is not something I'd be remotely interested in. Meeting people in VR would be nice but I think it's nicer to do something more interactive than watching video. The same way I'd never want to go on a date to the cinema. It's not really a social experience. But of course interests vary. Maybe it's a big thing, I'm all for it if it can drive VR more mainstream:)
    - jsjohnst 5y ago
      > The same way I'd never want to go on a date to the cinema. While I agree with you on this point, there’s a reason it’s half of the most cliche date night of all time (aka “dinner and a movie”), so readily dismissing that because our tastes defer from the norm seems misguided.
- rejectedandsad 5y ago
rizkiheryandi 5y ago
I want to test this cool project
josh8042 5y ago
It never occurred to me that hardware could be open source, very interesting.
- rtkwe 5y ago
  Really? Have you been living in a cave for the past two plus decades? 3D printing, arduino, opencores, etc have been big news and are all open source hardware. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware
  - smichel17 5y ago
    https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
    - rtkwe 5y ago
      For specific things that makes more sense but for the entire concept of open source hardware from someone on HN it's just wild to me.
      - p1mrx 5y ago
        https://xkcd.com/2501/ https://xkcd.com/2501/
  - axitanull 5y ago
    Oh wow, someone learned something new and exciting today! Instead of celebrating them expanding their knowledge and horizon, let's make fun of them!
Animats 5y ago
Only Prototype 4 is going to have force feedback.[1] Everything else is just some string pots for input. That's not a good way to do sensing, but if you have something that can pull on the strings, offers a way to apply forces to the hand. It looks like the plan is to mount five R/C servos on the wrist cuff. This is one of those projects for which you'd like OpenServo.[2] That was an old project to re-controller hobby R/C servos so that you could get force feedback and position feedback for robot use. It worked, but never became popular. [1] https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves/releases/tag/Proto4 https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves/releases/tag/Proto4 [2] https://hackaday.io/project/158267-openservo-20 https://hackaday.io/project/158267-openservo-20
jayd16 5y ago
I wonder how miniaturized and cheap something like this could be given full scale production. Would the spools always need to be that big or it more a feature of being 3d printed?
doctoboggan 5y ago
I built a much cruder version of this for the YCombinator Hardware Hackathon 8 years ago. http://jack.minardi.org/raspberry_pi/ycombinator-hardware-hackathon/ http://jack.minardi.org/raspberry_pi/ycombinator-hardware-ha... It was a great experience and we walked away with first prize. I can't believe that was 8 years ago now!
numpad0 5y ago
Is it hard to make inputs capacitive/force sensing based and feedback flexion based? Are finger travels necessary or better? I’m picturing a very Apple mouse like device with dimples for fingers, covered in a rubber like material, that changes its stiffness using some internal solenoid or piezo mechanisms.

170 points by danboarder 5y ago

Very cool project, though not yet at the point where non-MIT untermensch like me can build a replica easily. I’m eagerly awaiting prebuilt controller+force feedback kits that we can attach to our own gloves (instead of getting them from retractable badge holders).

tootie 5y ago
This looks like a plausible build for an eager hobbyist. PhD not required. There was an open source AR headset released a few years back and my company put one together with a smattering of off-the-shelf parts and a consumer-grade 3d printer in a few weeks with just a few regular devs with undergrad degrees. The parts list for this device is nothing you can't find on amazon/aliexpress/digikey and it says you can use an Ender or any other FDM printer (no mention of filament, but I'm guessing that means PLA is ok). https://developer.leapmotion.com/northstar https://developer.leapmotion.com/northstar

mdaniel 5y ago

> will be making a DIY treadmill eventually as well for those who would prefer that Whoa, that could be neat and I don't even currently have a VR setup

dylan604 5y ago
I want room sized treadmills like they had in the early '90s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkIs37a2JE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkIs37a2JE
- Cycl0ps 5y ago
  That was actually staged. They built the walls as a floating frame that could be moved around him. It wasn't until a decade later that we started seeing prototypes for roomscale treadmills like these: https://youtu.be/dTAAsCNK7RA https://youtu.be/dTAAsCNK7RA
  - dylan604 5y ago
    shhhh, you'll ruin the virtualness of it

kbenson 5y ago

The project page seems to be at https://hackaday.io/project/178243-lucidvr-budget-haptic-glove https://hackaday.io/project/178243-lucidvr-budget-haptic-glo..., and has a good video explaining the process he went through to get it working and what actually goes into it.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
One usecase though for him is to use your hands in VR. Hand tracking already has that covered though it's not yet perfect. But much more natural than using gloves. Being able to feel things in VR would be a big thing though. Especially if the gloves can also push back. So you could push against a wall and feel it. But in order for that to happen they'd have to be attached to something, not sure how that would work. But it does look like he's got feedback of hand held objects working which would be interesting too.
- wizzwizz4 5y ago
  > But in order for that to happen they'd have to be attached to something, Only if you care about getting momentum right. If you push against a wall, feel pressure on your hand, and your viewpoint moves away from the wall, then (apart from the motion sickness) that's a pretty good wall simulator.
  - webmaven 5y ago
    > > But in order for that to happen they'd have to be attached to something, > Only if you care about getting momentum right. If you push against a wall, feel pressure on your hand, and your viewpoint moves away from the wall, then (apart from the motion sickness) that's a pretty good wall simulator. In theory, you could get a bit more resistance than just the tactile feeling of pressure by bracing against the user's body in some fashion, but mechanically that might be hard to accomplish without what amounts to a wearable robot arm automagically interposing surfaces wherever you are supposed to feel them (and of course it would fail fairly dramatically as soon as you tried to lean against a wall or a tree).
- 5y ago

de6u99er 5y ago

Mainstream VR is dead IMO.

owlbynight 5y ago
You're very wrong. It's waiting for an app that gets shared video viewing right. Bigscreen VR is close, but not quite there.
- nixpulvis 5y ago
  The headsets need to get a lot more balanced and lighter for extended use. I don't want a buff neck.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    Quest 2 is already very light and causes no issues to my girlfriend who is really petite. So no, you don't need a buff neck.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  I don't know, I love VR and I don't think it's dead but shared video watching is not something I'd be remotely interested in. Meeting people in VR would be nice but I think it's nicer to do something more interactive than watching video. The same way I'd never want to go on a date to the cinema. It's not really a social experience. But of course interests vary. Maybe it's a big thing, I'm all for it if it can drive VR more mainstream:)
  - jsjohnst 5y ago
    > The same way I'd never want to go on a date to the cinema. While I agree with you on this point, there’s a reason it’s half of the most cliche date night of all time (aka “dinner and a movie”), so readily dismissing that because our tastes defer from the norm seems misguided.
rejectedandsad 5y ago

rizkiheryandi 5y ago

I want to test this cool project

josh8042 5y ago

It never occurred to me that hardware could be open source, very interesting.

rtkwe 5y ago
Really? Have you been living in a cave for the past two plus decades? 3D printing, arduino, opencores, etc have been big news and are all open source hardware. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware
- smichel17 5y ago
  https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
  - rtkwe 5y ago
    For specific things that makes more sense but for the entire concept of open source hardware from someone on HN it's just wild to me.
    - p1mrx 5y ago
      https://xkcd.com/2501/ https://xkcd.com/2501/
- axitanull 5y ago
  Oh wow, someone learned something new and exciting today! Instead of celebrating them expanding their knowledge and horizon, let's make fun of them!

Animats 5y ago

Only Prototype 4 is going to have force feedback.[1] Everything else is just some string pots for input. That's not a good way to do sensing, but if you have something that can pull on the strings, offers a way to apply forces to the hand. It looks like the plan is to mount five R/C servos on the wrist cuff. This is one of those projects for which you'd like OpenServo.[2] That was an old project to re-controller hobby R/C servos so that you could get force feedback and position feedback for robot use. It worked, but never became popular. [1] https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves/releases/tag/Proto4 https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves/releases/tag/Proto4 [2] https://hackaday.io/project/158267-openservo-20 https://hackaday.io/project/158267-openservo-20

jayd16 5y ago

I wonder how miniaturized and cheap something like this could be given full scale production. Would the spools always need to be that big or it more a feature of being 3d printed?

doctoboggan 5y ago

I built a much cruder version of this for the YCombinator Hardware Hackathon 8 years ago. http://jack.minardi.org/raspberry_pi/ycombinator-hardware-hackathon/ http://jack.minardi.org/raspberry_pi/ycombinator-hardware-ha... It was a great experience and we walked away with first prize. I can't believe that was 8 years ago now!

numpad0 5y ago

Is it hard to make inputs capacitive/force sensing based and feedback flexion based? Are finger travels necessary or better? I’m picturing a very Apple mouse like device with dimples for fingers, covered in a rubber like material, that changes its stiffness using some internal solenoid or piezo mechanisms.