Sleeves for sensations in virtual reality. Free Technical Library News

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Sleeves for virtual reality experiences

22.04.2018

Today, virtual reality systems use 3d glasses that take the player to another, simulated world. But super-thin, movable sheets that can fit into sleeves or other pieces of clothing will allow users to sense touch, making VR even more immersive.

The new device, described April 5 at the Spring Meeting of the Society for Materials Research, is a mesh of tiny inflatable bubbles sandwiched between two soft, stretchy silicone films. When one such sheet is placed on the user's skin, different air bubbles of different volumes and speeds are inflated, making the gamer feel like they have been grabbed by the wrist or patted on the back.

Each air pocket on the sheet is covered with a transparent metal sensor that monitors how much that bubble is stretched, which helps regulate the device's shape change. These sensors also detect dimples in bubbles, so the sleeves can act as game console touchpad controllers, explained study co-author Matthew Robertson, a roboticist at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

While air is supplied to the bubbles from an external pump through plastic tubes. The scientist noted that in a future version of the sleeves of virtual reality will be equipped with tiny containers with compressed gas to inflate bubbles.

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It is possible that halobacteria can help in the production of cheap hydrogen fuel, at least experiments indicate such a possibility. Elena Rozhkova and her colleagues were able to combine the bacterial pigment bacteriorhodopsin with semiconductor nanoparticles of titanium dioxide and platinum. The result is a complex that can act as a catalyst in the production of hydrogen.

Scientists have previously been aware of the great potential of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in alternative energy. So, back in 1970, Japanese scientists discovered that a titanium dioxide electrode in bright ultraviolet light is able to separate water molecules and thus produce hydrogen. This phenomenon is known as the Honda-Fujishima effect. Since then, scientists have made great efforts to commercialize this technology, but, unfortunately, titanium dioxide only reacts with ultraviolet light, as a result of which most of the sunlight is not used to produce hydrogen.

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