ALPS Uses Heat To Simulate Virtual Beverages

There are plenty of reason that you might be biding your time before purchasing a pile of virtual reality hardware. See, while other hardware companies are busy trying to figure out how to build a backpack PC that doesn’t suck so you can immerse yourself without tripping over a tangle of cables, ALPS has been working on a device that simulates different drinking scenarios. At this year’s installment of CEATEC, ALPS was showing off a piece of hardware that can trick your hand into thinking that it’s holding different kinds of cups… and that those cups are holding different things to drink. The ALPS controller (cuptroller?) Say, for example, you order up a coffee from a virtual Starbucks. The ALPS controller (cuptroller?) warms to an authentically high temperature and uses sensors and haptic feedback to respond to your grasp the way a real paper cup would. Pounding some refreshingly cold water in a styrofoam cup? The cuptroller cools itself down and simulates a slightly different squish. Tea in china teacup? No squish, but plenty of heat. According to people who’ve played with ALPS’ virtual cup, it’s shockingly convincing. It’s extremely unlikely that anyone is actually developing a VR game that would use a controller like this, so you might be wondering why ALPS is showing it off. This is a proof-of-concept device, really, and it’s an interesting (and slightly bizarre) way for ALPS to demonstrate what kind of VR wizardry they’re already able to pull off with their technology. You may never own a dedicated virtual cup, but it’s highly likely that some form of this ALPS tech will wind up inside someone’s general-purpose VR controller. http://www.geek.com/tech/alps-uses-haptics-and-heat-to-simulate-virtual-beverages-1673411/?source http://www.wochit.com This video was produced by YT Wochit News using http://wochit.com