The virtual reality suits are wearable devices to jump into a make-believe world. It helps block out the real world around you.
A basic VR suit has three main parts: a system that gives you feelings like touch (called haptic feedback), another system that tracks your movements, and a way to control the temperature inside the suit. You can also add gloves and shoes that give you touch sensations and track your movements, plus extras like smell and taste features. Some suits even come with a full-body frame that moves with you.
History of the Virtual Reality Suits
Back in the 1990s, people started making special outfits for gaming and virtual reality.
In 1994, a company called Aura Systems Inc. started selling something called the Interactor Vest Suit. It was a vest you could wear while gaming, and it made you feel things like punches or kicks by vibrating. They sold over 400,000 of these vests for $99 each.
Even though the Interactor Vest Suit was a hit, no other cool VR outfits came out until 2007.
In March 2007, a company called TN Games showed off their Force Wear Vest at a big gaming event in San Francisco. Later that year, they changed the name to “3RD Space Vest”. It was compatible with about 50 popular games like Call of Duty and Half-Life 2, thanks to some fancy software.
In 2010, a team at Pennsylvania University made the Tactile Gaming Vest Suit. This suit lets you feel stuff like getting shot, bleeding, or even getting cut by different kinds of weapons. They say it can even simulate things like pushes and changes in temperature.
Over the past four years, there have been a lot more projects like this popping up, and VR tech has been improving super fast.
Most of these projects are either motion capture suits or suits that give you feedback through touch. Motion capture suits are more common and easier to make because they’re simpler and quicker to develop and get on the market. Haptic suits, on the other hand, are much harder to make because they need lots of different specialists to work together. So, it usually takes longer, like 2 to 5 years, to develop and release them.
Haptic suits usually come in the form of jackets or vests. Companies mostly use things like force feedback and vibration to make you feel stuff. Some companies are even working on full-on VR suits with jackets and pants.
VR suit configuration
Sensory-based system
This part of a virtual reality suit is in charge of bringing sensations from the virtual world into the real one. For instance, it might convey the feeling of getting hit in a game or experiencing feedback from tutorial applications.
There are different ways to transfer senses.
Vibration
This is the most common method. They put little vibrating motors in the areas where you might get hit by something in the virtual world. It’s cheap and easy to set up, but it uses a lot of energy, isn’t super accurate, and can’t simulate a wide range of feelings.
Force Feedback
This is like vibration but stronger. It’s harder to make and set up, but it’s better for making you feel like you’re actually touching things in the virtual world. It’s especially good for stopping you from walking into walls or other stuff in VR.
Ultrasonic Feedback
They use sound waves to make you feel things. It’s pretty good at showing the shape and texture of virtual objects, but it uses a lot of energy and needs extra equipment.
Electrical Stimulation
Electrical stimulation is a less common method, but it’s really interesting. There are a couple of types: electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) and electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Since touch is all about electrical signals in our bodies, using EMS and TENS can give you a wide range of sensations, like feeling something soft or sharp on a specific part of your body, or even the sensation of raindrops. But it’s tough to imitate all the chemical stuff that happens when you touch something, so electrical stimulation has to handle all of that on its own.
To tackle the challenge of transferring sensations, there are various alternative tech products available on the market that employ the methods we discussed earlier. These gadgets let you feel collisions with virtual objects, and sense their shape, texture, and even their weight, to different degrees. Independent research at the Hasso-Plattner Institute confirmed that electrical stimulation can even simulate the sensation of weight.
Motion capture system
Motion capture, or mocap, is a cool tech that helps figure out where a person is and what they’re doing in space. It tracks how your limbs move and even what your fingers are up to. Originally used in movies and animations, it’s now part of virtual reality too.
There are a few kinds of mocap systems out there.
Inertial/gyroscopic system
The inertial/gyroscopic system relies on sensors made up of inertial and gyroscopic components. This setup allows it to track and mirror a person’s movements and rotations in a virtual world. It can also record these movements, like those of swimmers or dancers, which can be used later as a standard for comparison in training programs.
Optical tracking system: The optical tracking system is much more precise compared to inertial systems, but it’s also a lot pricier. Typically, it involves a setup with optical cameras placed around the room where the person wearing the virtual reality suit moves.
Hybrid system
The hybrid system combines both inertial and optical tracking systems to get the most precise coordinates for a VR suit.
This motion capture system helps with a few things:
- Reducing motion sickness or nausea in VR experiences.
- Solving the issue of virtual avatars; allows you to see your whole avatar in VR, not just your hands like in many cases.
- Coordinating the movements of multiple people who are in the same room or different locations.
Climate control system
The climate control system in a virtual reality suit manages the temperature.
It uses a sensor called a Peltier element to adjust the temperature. This element can change the temperature within a range of 10 to 40 degrees Celsius by creating a temperature difference when an electric current passes through it.
The good things about the Peltier-based system are that it’s small, and doesn’t have any moving parts, gases, or liquids. But it does use a lot of power, so the suit needs a strong and long-lasting battery.
VR gloves
Virtual reality gloves are gloves that usually come with either a sensory-based system (haptic feedback) or a motion capture system. It’s not very common for them to have a temperature transfer system.
Since touching things with your hands is the most natural way to interact in VR, gloves are super important in a VR suit. They let you touch virtual walls, handle weapons, feel water, and even experience objects that don’t exist or aren’t accessible in the real world.
Biometric system
A biometric system consists of sensors that monitor your body in real-time. The data collected can then be analyzed and sent elsewhere if needed.
These sensors can include things like a temperature sensor, carbon electrodes (which can measure a bunch of stuff like oxygen levels, skin moisture, and even detect pollutants), electromyograph, electrocardiograph, and a GPS system.
While not essential, adding a biometric system to a virtual reality suit really amps up its capabilities. With so much data coming in from the suit, it’s important to process it in real time. This can be done either on a cloud server using artificial intelligence or locally on the suit with simpler algorithms.
One of the big benefits of real-time monitoring and processing is that the system can keep an eye on your health and alert you to any dangerous signs. It can even automatically call for help, like an ambulance, if something serious comes up.
Odor and taste transfer system
The sense of smell is super important for us humans—it helps us experience our surroundings, like the delicious smell of food.
But here’s the thing: even if the environment is exactly the same, everyone’s experience of smells and tastes can be different. So, in virtual reality, the taste and smell of things would vary from person to person.
Trying to simulate smell in VR is really tough and expensive, so most people can’t afford it.
Back in 2015, a company called “FeelReal” made a prototype mask that could create different smells using six different ingredients.
Meanwhile, researchers at the National University of Singapore are working on a device that can mimic taste. It tricks your mouth into feeling like there’s food in it, even when there isn’t, and it can even make it feel like you’re chewing by stimulating your jaw with electricity.
Exoskeleton system
An exoskeleton is a device designed to enhance a person’s muscle power and increase the range of movement, often through a mechanical frame.
In a virtual reality suit, the main job of the exoskeleton is to simulate walking and provide resistance to prevent you from passing through virtual objects. But compared to separate devices like VR treadmills, exoskeletons are more complex and expensive to use.
Right now, only a few companies are working on developing exoskeletons for complete immersion in VR.
Applications
Virtual reality suit for the game industry
The virtual reality industry is booming, and it’s not just benefiting itself—it’s also driving growth in other industries that might not seem connected at first.
One area where virtual reality is making a big impact is the gaming industry. The gaming market is growing at a rate of 5.4% each year, with total revenue projected to hit $106.5 billion in 2017.
Such a huge and ever-increasing market always requires cutting-edge technologies, including virtual reality.
So, what benefits does VR deliver to the game industry?
Full immersion
The most popular devices for diving into virtual reality are headsets and audio gear. But just using these two doesn’t make you feel completely immersed.
To truly feel like you’re in another world, you need to engage all five senses. This includes touch, taste, smell, and being able to move around freely. Only then will you get the full immersive experience.
Realism
The parts of the virtual reality suit let players dive deep into the virtual world. When the technology is really good, it can make the experience so real that users can’t tell the difference between the real world and the virtual one. The quality of the content also plays a big role in how lifelike the experience feels.
Real-time cooperation
Virtual reality lets players team up and see their teammates and rivals in real time, interacting just like in the real world.
However, just seeing and hearing isn’t enough for full immersion.
Today’s technology can make VR much more immersive with a VR suit. The missing pieces in VR games are haptic feedback, motion capture systems, climate control, VR gloves, and biometric systems. These technologies transform the gameplay. Haptic feedback gloves let users interact naturally with virtual worlds, while motion capture systems track the player’s movements and gestures, making the game experience more realistic.
The climate control system lets you feel different temperatures, like cold, heat, and changes in between, along with scenarios like wading through a river or being near an exploding gas tank. It can even simulate a cold wind when paired with a haptic system.
In recent years, game developers have shown more interest in using biometrics to enhance gameplay. Companies like Valve have talked about using biometrics to improve user experiences and create more engaging games. This same technology can be applied to virtual reality games. VR suits can use biometric systems or a set of sensors to create a more immersive experience.
Virtual reality suit in sociocultural sphere
Immersive virtual reality has great potential for cultural and social projects.
VR can allow people to directly experience cultural and historical events. Imagine traveling back to the Roman Empire, visiting the amphitheater, touching gladiators’ armor and weapons, strolling through ancient Rome’s streets, and experiencing battles and different social classes firsthand.
Full immersion in VR can also help develop social projects and conduct experiments. For example, it can simulate complex social scenarios that are hard to recreate in a lab, like increasing discrimination against a specific group. VR can create conditions where people can experience what marginalized groups feel, such as fear, mockery, or physical abuse.
Research projects at Stanford use VR to evoke empathy by letting people experience these conditions, potentially changing attitudes toward sociocultural issues, such as the challenges faced by physically disabled individuals.
Science
Virtual reality is becoming an essential tool in scientific research and science as a whole.
In this field, VR helps with:
- Data visualization
- Modeling and prototyping
- Molecular visualization and chemical design
- 3D reconstruction
- Anatomical visualization
- Astronomical visualization
- Interaction with objects using haptic gloves, including scaling and viewing from different angles
- Dynamic visualization and validation
Education
Virtual reality is also making a big impact on education.
Here are a few reasons why VR is better than traditional learning:
- VR can turn abstract ideas into tangible objects.
- It allows students to sense things that don’t exist or are hard to access in real life, which helps in learning.
- Students can not only watch the teacher but also interact with many people and engage directly with the subject matter.
- VR and AR enhance collaboration among students, making group assignments quicker and more effective.
- VR can simulate dangerous environments, like walking near an active volcano and feeling the heat, making learning experiences safer and more immersive.
Training
Training with full immersion and virtual reality suits offers many significant possibilities. Here are some key scenarios:
- Sports Training: Athletes can practice in realistic virtual environments, improving their skills and techniques without the risk of injury.
- Medical Training: Medical students and professionals can perform virtual surgeries and procedures, gaining hands-on experience in a safe and controlled setting.
- Defense and Law Enforcement Training: Personnel can engage in realistic simulations of various scenarios, such as tactical operations or emergency response, to enhance their skills and preparedness.
Virtual reality suit for sports training
Sports training requires highly accurate motion capture and biometric systems.
Motion capture systems can:
- Track movements of teams and individual players
- Track the trajectory in sports involving balls (like football, rugby, tennis, golf) and archery
- Analyze and correct efficiency based on computer algorithms
Biometric systems are essential in modern professional sports suits because they:
- Monitor vitals in real time
- Track varying muscle loads based on collected data
Medical training
Medical training stands out as one of the most challenging endeavors in today’s world, given its direct impact on life and health, especially in emergencies and surgeries.
In the medical field, virtual reality finds extensive use in surgeon training. This training encompasses various scenarios:
- Educating surgeons through visualization and feedback systems
- Planning and rehearsing surgical procedures
- Simulating intricate surgical scenarios
- Analyzing errors, both major and minor
In all these scenarios, a haptic feedback system is integral. This system, utilizing force feedback, vibration, or electrical stimulation, mimics the use of surgical instruments and their application during procedures. Ideally, this setup includes motion capture technology to precisely track surgical instruments’ positions and align them with virtual organs, reducing the risk of complications and unforeseen events.
Biometrics plays a crucial role by accurately monitoring a surgeon’s breathing, stress levels, and other vital biological parameters during operations.
Training of law enforcement authorities
Law enforcement agencies were among the pioneers in adopting virtual reality for their needs.
A complete virtual reality suit enables participation in diverse projects, including flight and driving simulations, military and medical training, and urban planning.
The comprehensive design of VR suits, incorporating all the mentioned technologies, facilitates the realistic enactment of various scenarios with full immersion. For instance, combat simulations, hostage rescue operations, evacuation from battle zones, and individual efforts to extract the wounded from the field are common scenarios. These simulations can be enhanced with additional elements like fires, hazardous chemical spills, heavy rains, and more.
Industrial solutions
The corporate and industrial sectors are major consumers of VR solutions and equipment. According to IDC’s research from March 2017, around 20% of all VR devices are used by companies for commercial purposes.
VR has become integral to the industrial sector, with both private and public companies leveraging VR technologies for various purposes.
In the automotive industry, VR is utilized for design, prototyping, manufacturing, and marketing. Head-mounted displays are commonly used for collaborative work and data visualization. Haptic feedback adds value by enabling tactile interaction with projected objects during the design and engineering phases. In marketing, the haptic feedback system allows potential buyers to evaluate design and ergonomics directly in VR, testing components like steering wheels and seats. Biometric systems can gauge customer satisfaction and offer tailored options based on their responses.
The aerospace industry has been using VR and related technologies for over 20 years. For instance, NASA developed the NASA View helmet in 1985 for space simulations. In aerospace, VR components like data visualization, training, dynamic validation of prototypes, flight simulations, collaborative work, risk identification, automatic response development, injury prevention training, and gravity simulation are commonly utilized.
Beyond aerospace and automotive industries, the entire stack of VR technologies (including haptic feedback, motion capture, gloves, biometric systems, and exoskeletons) finds applications in production, engineering, construction, architecture, and marketing.
Brief summary
The VR industry is evolving rapidly, with an entire ecosystem built around it. Head-mounted displays and audio headsets are the main tools for immersing users in virtual worlds. The development of a full-fledged VR suit is crucial for complete immersion, allowing users to feel the virtual world through touch. This is achieved through sensory systems utilizing various technologies such as vibration, electrical stimulation, and force feedback.
It may take another 1-3 years for a fully developed VR suit to be introduced to the mass market.
At Teslasuit, we’re working on a suit for immersive gaming, education, and learning processes. The complete set includes a jacket, trousers, and gloves, incorporating four systems that function as a unified unit: haptic feedback (based on electrical stimulation), motion capture, climate control, and biometric analysis. The T-Gloves prototype is designed for full interaction, featuring haptic feedback and motion capture systems.
This article was first published on the Teslasuit blog.
