"Meta's Reality Labs team is working on haptic gloves to create a realistic sense of touch in the metaverse. One day you'll be able to feel texture and pressure when you touch virtual objects," wrote Mark on his official Facebook page.
The work has been so innovative that it has opened doors for scientific research into virtual and augmented reality. Furthermore, the company aims to direct its technologies toward new fields of study such as medicine and space travel.
Some of the examples the company offers are like working on a friend's surreal 3D puzzle. The hypothesis is that as you pick up a virtual puzzle piece, your fingers will automatically stop moving as you begin to feel the piece in your hand. The goal is to achieve a level of sharpness that even allows you to feel the cardboard and the surface of the object.
This opens up the technology to new possibilities for work tools. Another example is a virtual screen where the keyboard adjusts to your hands, and the space available for typing can be easily customized. And just like the puzzle piece, you can feel the pressure of a button and everything that entails: its edges, texture, density, just like a physical keyboard.
Reality Labs manager Sean Keller explained that to achieve more realistic sensations, the gloves need to contain up to 10 times more tubes. "This is a big problem from a systems perspective that can't be solved until something like fluid microprocessors is built," he explained in an interview with CNet.
Scientists have not confirmed that the technology is actually embedded in these gloves, since there are other types of research such as electromyography, a type of technology used for clinical diagnoses that can take readings of the electrical activity of muscles and neurons.