banner



University of Utah Develops a Thumb-Tugging Video Game Controller - cloningergrieds

[Photo: Markus Montandon, University of Utah]

Researchers at the University of Utah possess created a revolutionary experimental controller that sends force-feedback rearwards directly to your thumbs.

If you own a PS3 or an Xbox 360, the image controller might look intimate, but midmost of the thumb sticks you might detect a match of eraser-ferret-sized red nubs. These IBM TrackPoint-look protrusion are called "tactors" that are designed to tug at your thumbs for some seriously fine-tuned force-feedback.

The tactors push on against the surface of your thumb to simulate the recoil of a gun or the feel of the swaying labor from ocean waves. The researchers demonstrated their accountant with a fishing game in which the tactors allowed the players to tactile property the tug of the fishing line atomic number 3 though it was real.

Force-feedback has been around since 1997 when Nintendo introduced the Rumble Pack for the Nintendo 64 controller. However, even with the multi-zone rumble found in DualShock 3, force feedback today is limited to varying amounts of vibrations.

Tactors could provide a whole late world of haptic feedback that is such to a greater extent subtle and directional than what's out in that respect now. Imagine acting a round of Battlefield 3 where you really had to press the controller to control your gun's recoil, a racing game where you could feel the car's body roll in a pixilated corner, or a game tugging you toward a certain direction instead of freehanded you an aim marker.

The point of the tactor control is to add other tear down of immersion for gamers. Assistant professor of mechanical engineering William Provancher told the University of Utah News program Center on, "we stimulate developed feedback modes that heighten immersiveness and realism for play scenarios such as hit, recoil from a gun, the feeling of being pushed by ocean waves or crawling inclined in a first-individual shooter game."

In the beginning prototypes of the Tactor game controller. [Photo: Markus Montandon, University of Utah]

Provancher and the other researchers hope that this technology volition make its manner into the next generation of game consoles. The team also wants to adapt the controller design into a smartphone peripheral similar to the iCade for iPhone.

The parvenu comptroller is currently beingness shown off at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Haptics Symposium. The researchers also hope to show off their tactor-stocked controller at this year's Game Developers Conference–which we are coating extensively over at our Game On blog, so stay tuned.

[University of Beehive State News Center via Ubergizmo]

Similar this? You might as wel enjoy…

  • Lego set Apple Memory Lets Your Minifigures Job Risen for New iGadgets
  • 3D Printing in Space: Repair Your Blank Station With Tools Built in Ambi
  • Hey Look, Information technology's Mari0! The Portal-Mario Mashup Is Finally Here

Get more GeekTech: Chirrup – Facebook – RSS | Tip us murder

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/468892/university_of_utah_develops_a_thumb_tugging_video_game_controller.html

Posted by: cloningergrieds.blogspot.com

0 Response to "University of Utah Develops a Thumb-Tugging Video Game Controller - cloningergrieds"

Post a Comment

Iklan Atas Artikel

Iklan Tengah Artikel 1

Iklan Tengah Artikel 2

Iklan Bawah Artikel