While many have scoffed at the Oculus Rift’s $600 price point, they may not treat this newest gadget by Tesla Studios with as much cynicism. The new company is looking to Kickstart their full-body haptic feedback VR suit, with a goal of £250,000, or $365,550 USD.
In the suit’s pitch video as spotted by Endgadget and RocketNews, Tesla Studios outlines its current capabilities and possible future uses. There are two variants: The Pioneer, which has 16 individual points of feedback across the upper and lower body, and the Prodigy, which has 52 discrete "impact points" Both suits are made of neoprene interlaced with a conductive thread that uses neuromuscular electrical stimulation. Translated from technical jargon, that means the suit can stimulate different parts of your body, creating a “range of tactile sensations,” in order to simulate physical aspects of a virtual reality experience.
Tesla Studios says they have adapted the technology from tech that’s used in physical therapy to train and retrain muscle groups. The pitch video features people from all walks of life singing the suit’s praises: a university professor notes how the suit would make getting shot at in FPS games more real, while the captain of Celtic F.C. says it could be helpful in sports as well. The video speculates about the suit’s capabilities in a variety of industries, from the medical field to military training exercises.
In perhaps a weird, futuristic incarnation of the poke feature on Facebook, a virtual meeting app lets friends and family add tactile qualities to video messaging, including “the ability to send hugs over the internet.”
The suit comes with an “easy to use” SDK, the aforementioned virtual meeting app, a free paintball VR game, and command center software. It will also be compatibile with all the major VR headsets, game consoles, and mobile platforms. As of this story’s writing, the project has raised $18,860 of their $365,550 goal, with 27 days left to go.
Do you think this suit is the future? Or is this going too far? Let us know in the comments.
