Virtual Reality

Imagine a next-gen VR experience that lets you speak realistic scenes, intelligent characters and complex situations into being, then interact with them in real time. It's coming, due to a convergence of tech like this advance in real-time 3D video.

In the real world, you wouldn't want to carry a controller all the time, or have menus popping up in front of your face – so why put up with those things in VR worlds? With EgoTouch you don't have to, as it puts an interface on the palm of your hand.

There are now a number of gloves that deliver tactile sensations to VR users' fingertips when they touch virtual objects. The Phantom glove is unique, however, in that it doesn't cover the fingers, leaving them free for real-world interactions.

Finland's Varjo has announced the latest edition of its mixed-reality headset for enterprise and military, which is claimed to offer "virtual and mixed reality experiences practically indistinguishable from natural sight."

Fluid Reality is offering a cheaper, more lightweight haptic VR glove that doesn’t need to be tethered to bulky backpacks or multitudes of tubing. It’s designed to provide users with a high-resolution VR experience, direct to their fingertips.

"This is really the most incredible thing I've ever seen," said podcast host Lex Fridman, interviewing Mark Zuckerberg in VR using Meta's stunning new photorealistic avatars, coming soon to Quest, so lifelike that they "cross the uncanny valley."

Late last year, Sony launched a mobile motion-capture system in Japan that worked with a companion app to create a VR avatar for such things as gaming or chat. Now the Mocopi system is up for pre-order in the US.

While we've seen multiple attempts to produce real-world odors in VR environments, many have involved cumbersome wearable devices. Chinese scientists have developed a much more streamlined system, which is applied to the skin below the user's nose.

After months of speculation, Apple has finally announced its house-brand augmented reality system. Known as Apple Vision Pro, the setup is described as being the company's first "spatial computer."

With Apple dropping hints that its much-awaited AR/VR headset will drop at next week's WWDC event, Meta has attempted to steal its rival's thunder. The new Meta Quest 3 is smaller, much more powerful than its predecessor, and designed for next-level AR.

SenseGlove has announced the upcoming release of Nova 2, the second generation of its innovative haptic force-feedback glove. The Nova 2 offers a more realistic VR experience and will be the first glove of its type to feature palm feedback.

While there are already haptic feedback VR gloves that provide a simulated sense of touch to users, they typically cost at least a few thousand dollars. The Pulse glove is aimed at making the tech more accessible, in that it's priced at just US$299.

It can be frustrating when you're searching for an object, knowing that you may have looked right where it is without realizing you've done so. A new augmented reality system could help, by showing users where items are … even if they're hidden.

VR app company Bigscreen is moving into hardware with the launch of the Beyond headset, which is claimed to be the world's smallest – coming in at less than an inch at its thinnest point and said to weigh in six times lighter than other VR devices.

Although there already are experimental "telehaptic" systems that allow people to send and receive tactile sensations, they tend to be bulky and awkward. A new one is much slimmer and thus more practical, thanks to the use of piezoelectric materials.