While the leaps made with the virtual reality experiences provided by the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are impressive, true virtual reality won’t be accomplished without the ability to feel what’s in these worlds. For this, a lot of work will need to be done, but luckily the first tentative steps are being taken now with the help of crowdfunding campaigns.
One of these campaigns is currently going on now and is called the PowerClaw, a device that promises to add a tactile experience to the currently flat VR out now. Strapping it on lets users feel everything from the heat to cold to textures such as roughness, topping it all off with vibrations fro that extra sense of touch. The PowerClaw does all this through actuators located on the fingertips that simulate exactly what the skin is feeling.