Skinetic, the Haptic VR Vest That Takes You Into the Metaverse

The world’s largest trade show dedicated to innovation is back! The 2022 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will take place from January 5 to 8 in Las Vegas. Among the innovations presented, Actronika’s haptic vest Skinetic promises to be a sensation. Skinetic allows users to experience a new generation of immersive VR by allowing them to feel life-like sensations of every interaction within the virtual world. Virtual reality has evolved a lot in recent years thanks to the improvement of VR headsets. But the experience can’t be truly immersive because although they allow us to see and hear, headsets don’t let us touch. It is therefore necessary to develop haptic technologies to integrate touch into virtual experiences.

“A few players are beginning to add the sense of touch into VR. However, the tactile illusions are still very flat. We decided to take this technology from black and white to full color!” explains Gilles Meyer – CEO of Actronika. Armed with more than 30 years of expertise in haptics (science of touch), Actronika created a device to feel real-life sensations for unique virtual experiences: the Skinetic vest. From gaming to training, it enables a totally immersive experience – the user can feel every raindrop in a storm, wind when standing near a cliff edge, or even the impact of bullets during a war game.

Skinetic stands out from the competition because of the realism and the diversity of the sensations that it provides. The vest integrates 20 patented vibrotactile voice-coil motors, capable of generating a wide range of vibrations that covers 100% of human vibrotactile perception.
To map the tactile feedback points in the vest, Actronika studied the variations in sensitivity of the human body in order to optimize the users’ perception and appreciation of the sensations.

Skinetic will be available for pre-order starting on March 22, 2022 during a one-month Kickstarter campaign.