This sounds like it inspired a video game controller called the Novint Falcon. Swappable grip on the end of 3 arms that could detect up/down/left/right/forward/

This sounds like it inspired a video game controller called the Novint Falcon. Swappable grip on the end of 3 arms that could detect up/down/left/right/forward/back movement and also had decently beefy motors to give you that sort of feedback. I was super impressed by the demo software that has a part where you moved a virtual hand through various substances. Honey and molasses really felt like you were moving your hand through viscous liquid, you could feel the texture of a bumpy rock but not move through it, and most impressive to me was a sphere of ice that really felt like your hand easily slid along the surface. It got first party support in a bunch of Valve games and a decent number of games had unofficial support through mods but it never really took off and I think the company now makes medical tools with the same sort of tech. The lack of feedback in input devices beyond a little rumble is really disappointing. I think feedback is extremely important especially now that VR is starting to actually take off.