Disney develops a VR jacket "Force Jacket" that can reproduce "hug" and "snake go around the back" by air pressure

Disney in collaboration with the university "Force Jacket"We are developing a special jacket called. Force Jacket is a jacket for VR contents that gives a tactile sensation to people wearing a built-in airbag, and aims to realize "feeling" in the virtual space.

Force Jacket: Pneumatically-Actuated Jacket for Embodied Haptic Experiences
(PDF file)https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/disneyresearch/wp-content/uploads/20180424165727/Force-Jacket-Pneumatically-Actuated-Jacket-for-Embodied-Haptic-Experiences-Paper.pdf

Disney Made A VR Jacket That Can Simulate Hugs, Snakes Crawling On Your Back
https://futurism.com/disney-vr-jacket-simulate-hug-snakes/

Force Jacket's hardware is described in the following movie.

Force Jacket: Pneumatically-Actuated Jacket for Embodied - YouTube


The outerwear worn by men is "Force Jacket"


Inside of Force Jacket is an air bag.


He said that the airbag reproduces the physical force externally applied to the upper body when it shakes to instantly swell or shake so as to give vibration.


26 airbags are independently built in the jacket ... ...


It is also possible to convey "beating of the heart".


Each of the air bags is connected to an actuator and can swell, collapse or vibrate synchronously by receiving a signal from the computer.


By interlocking the airbag, it is also possible to transfer forces from left to right, for example.


By enclosing the upper body with the airbag, we can reproduce the force from all directions.


For example, in a virtual space with snow ......


It is possible to reproduce the "feel" that snow balls can be thrown.


Moreover, unlike the haptic hardware for VR which reproduces the "vibration" by the conventional motor, since it can surround the upper body and change the pressure, "feel like a snake moves while winding around the whole body" Can also be reproduced.


You can experience the feeling of "muscular ridiculous men".


Disney is developing "Force Jacket" in collaboration with MIT Media Lab and Carnegie Mellon University. The airbag built in the jacket has seven levels of pressure, it seems that it gives a variety of feelings until "intense body blow" and "gentle embrace".


As a device for enhancing the realism of the VR content, a glove type "Shape Hand"And a whole body tactile suit"SkinterfaceThere were such as, but it was all using the vibration of the motor. On the other hand, Force Jacket is a hardware that applies pressure using an air bag, and it can realize various feelings to the whole body which was difficult with a motor.


Force Jacket seems to be used as an attraction of Disney or as a video auxiliary tool like 4DX.