{"id":26136,"date":"2020-10-08T19:57:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T19:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immersion.com\/?p=26136"},"modified":"2021-03-04T02:59:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T02:59:07","slug":"beyond-the-playstation-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immersion.com\/ja\/beyond-the-playstation-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the PlayStation 5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Chris Ullrich, CTO at Immersion
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There is tremendous hype surrounding the upcoming launch of\nthe PlayStation 5. Many developers and reviewers have expressed enthusiasm for\nthe haptic capabilities of the DualSense\u2122 controllers.  Godfall<\/em> Game Director Keith Lee was\nquoted recently in TheGamer<\/a><\/em>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What’s exciting about\nthe DualSense controller is the fact that it has stereo vibration in\nterms of the rumblers, as well as resistance on the triggers, so one of the\nthings that you can do is to create, for the first time, a sensation of your\nweapon hitting another weapon and how it resonates,” Lee said. “The\nfact that if you’re sliding across the ground, depending on the surface of the\nmaterial–you might slide on gravel or sand or water–the way the vibrations\nwork really feel like the way that those surfaces would feel. So, it’s a lot\nmore powerful in terms of creating that experience.” (TheGamer,\nSean Murray<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re obviously very excited to see a meaningful upgrade to\nthe haptic functionality of consumer game controllers. We’re looking forward to\nawesome, immersive experiences when creatives use this capability. As CTO of\nImmersion, I’m elated to see this technology go mainstream \u2013 and I’m betting\nthat this is just the beginning of a touch revolution in gaming, virtual\nreality, and other consumer devices. Haptics in the Sony PlayStation 5 means\nmore than a new console with games enabled with the sense of touch.  It means the emergence of a new field of creativity\nand exploration, ripe for innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing to understand is that the human sense of\ntouch is not like vision and audition. It’s both primal and nuanced. A\nreal-world tactile experience consists of at least 15 distinct dimensions of\nsensation broadly categorized into texture, adhesion, thermal, compliance, and\nfriction (check out SynTouch<\/a>, for more\ndetails). Tactile perception is fundamentally exploratory, and most rich touch\nexperiences depend on body motion to explore the tactile dimensions. Think of\nfeeling a piece of fabric or the distinct sensations of touching wood vs. glass\nsurfaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second thing to understand is that the sense of touch is\nintegrated into a multi-sensory perception of the world. This is the sound of\nsliding across a rough surface vs. a smooth one used by our brain to create a\nricher model of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In DualSense\u2122 controller-based experiences, content creators\nwill start to explore the expressive dimensions of high definition vibration\nand resistive triggers as an element of immersive gameplay. I expect these\ncreators will quickly realize that they can leverage the perceptual assumptions\nof users to enable the four actuation channels to cover a broader set of the 15\ndimensions of touch than what is strictly available physically within the new\nsystem. For consumer devices, this is critical learning, and we’ll quickly see\nexperiences that stretch the hardware to the limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, vibration and resistance are insufficient, even with multimodal perception, to cover the entire range of human touch experiences. The good news is that there are many haptic devices at the research and early-stage commercial level that can fill out these other dimensions, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Friction displays<\/strong>: Both Tanvas and Hap2u have demonstrated commercially viable surface haptic display technology. The experience of these devices is one of stickiness (Tanvas) or slipperiness (Hap2u) and can be extremely compelling. It’s very hard\/impossible to reproduce this sensation using only vibration feedback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ultrasound displays<\/strong>: Ultraleap has developed a futuristic non-contact haptic feedback system that can create a ‘light touch’ experience without any surface contact. Although the sensations are not really distinct from what can be done with vibration, there is nothing to wear or touch, so the experience is uniquely valuable. \n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Shape-changing wearables<\/strong>: The Hey bracelet is a squeeze-based wearable for couples that provides a novel, non-vibration wristband experience. Pressure and stiffness changing devices bring a new dimension to consumer electronics that are not widely used in the market. \n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Robotic exoskeletons<\/strong>: There are a few companies that are making whole-hand kinesthetic exoskeletons. HaptX and Contact CI are currently active in this area. These devices are somewhat like the resistive triggers on DualSense\u2122, but for each finger or finger joint. The HaptX glove can also render complex surface textures and compliance. \n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Thermal displays<\/strong>: Embr Labs have made some progress in commercializing small, low power Peltier elements to provide programmatic heating and cooling to devices.\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Multi-actuator\/multi-modality<\/strong>: Companies like Neosensory and b-haptics make vibration-based wearables that contain multiple actuators. These devices are capable of much greater levels of immersion and information bandwidth due to the parallel nature of tactile stimulation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are other technologies and companies, of course, working in this rapidly growing ecosystem, and this list is not meant to be exhaustive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Immersion Corporation, we’ve had decades to explore the commercial possibilities of touch and have learned some important (and expensive) lessons on what is likely to work and what is not likely to work at scale. In my experience, it is these factors that ultimately drive the introduction and adoption of new haptic technologies at the mass-market level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n