The folk over at Disney Research have been coming up with some pretty creative inventions recently. Previously we covered the Pico projector motion controller, and now they’ve come up with something new. Called the Tactile Brush, its innocent-sounding name doesn’t betray the sensations it can cause gamers to feel when they’re playing their favorite game in the middle of the night.
The Tactile Brush is a device that is designed to give gamers the illusion of being touched by anything – from falling rain to crawling insects. When used in conjunction with an immersive game it can truly enhance a gaming experience. While such technology has already been around for some time now, it’s never been used in this way before.
The folks at Disney Research recently did a study on these illusions with a group of volunteers sat in a chair backed by a grid of 12 vibrating coils. By activating the coils in different sequences and at different intensities, noting down which settings created the best effects and illusions.
While the technology was recently demonstrated with a racing video game, they plan to get the Tactile Brush into theaters to help movies compete with DVDs and home cinema – after all, not many people will be able to afford such chairs in their own homes. No word on when this technology will be rolled out, but we can’t wait to experience the rain falling on our backs.
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