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LucidGloves: VR Haptic Gloves on a budget

A functional glove that lets you use AND FEEL your hands in VR.

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This is a project to try to make VR Haptic Glove technology more available for the public. Currently, most VR Haptic Glove products out there are extremely expensive and are targeted for commercial use. In starting this project, I wanted to create a budget, but still well-functioning VR haptic and finger tracking glove that's cheap and easy for people to get their hands on (or in, lol), and that works **Inside actual VR games**.

https://www.tiktok.com/@lucas_vrtech
https://www.youtube.com/c/lucasvrtech
https://discord.gg/lucidvr

Prototype 4 costs about $30 per hand.

Originally, this was just a fun quarantine project to keep me busy, but 500,000 followers later, this project is now much more than that. My goal now is to spread this project as far as possible and hopefully help more people fall in love with Virtual Reality.

Currently, the project is in prototype 4 but I'm innovating constantly to improve the gloves.

Follow along with my developments on this TikTok page:

https://www.tiktok.com/@lucas_vrtech

Currently, the glove is compatible with PCVR headsets through SteamVR.

Resources:

Getting Started: https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves/wiki

Parts List: https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves/wiki/Prototype-4-Parts-List

Arduino/ESP32 firmware and STL Files (for 3D Printing) are located here: https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves

Open-source driver to use the gloves in SteamVR (A collaboration between Danwillm and me):

Github Driver Link

Steam Driver Release

Instructions and video tutorials for assembling the gloves are available on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/c/lucas_vrtech

Many features may be unstable until they are polished, build at your own risk :P

Public Roadmap:

Prototype 3

  • First public release (finger tracking model)
  • Much more comfortable and tracking improvements

Prototype 3.1

  • Wireless support over Bluetooth
  • Easier to assemble and faster

Prototype 4

  • First public Force Feedback prototype
    • Addition of haptic servos
  • Custom Rigid Mount for controller holders, and many other improvements.

Prototype 5 (WIP)

  • Planned to be much more compact
  • Will have support for finger splay (side to side movement) tracking

  • Prototype 4 with FORCE FEEDBACK HAPTICS!!!

    Lucas LucidVR01/05/2022 at 01:43 0 comments

    Hello everyone! 

    This update has been long overdue, but with the premiere of my new video on Prototype 4, I thought it would be the perfect time to update you all on the addition of FORCE FEEDBACK to my VR Haptic Gloves!!!

    These gloves now allow you to FEEL the shape and resistance of objects in Virtual Reality!

    This goes along with the release of firmware V4 and OpenGloves Driver v0.4, which enable the haptics to work in actual VR games!

    The hardware itself for the haptics is enabled by the addition of super-cheap 9g RC servo motors, which I am powering off of a cheap USB battery.

    The data for the haptics is integrated either via native Unity code or via modding support for haptics into different games.

    As of 1/4/2022, we currently have haptic support in the OpenGloves unity demo, as well as mods to add haptic functionality into the following games:

    * Half-Life Alyx

    * Boneworks (modded by L4rs)

    * Jetborne Racing (modded by L4rs)

    * Want to help us mod more games? Reach out on our discord server or DM LucidVR#0001 on discord.

  • Bluetooth! + Steam Release

    Lucas LucidVR05/21/2021 at 22:22 0 comments

    Alright, so all of the pieces for using Bluetooth with the VR gloves have come together!

    Using Firmware V2 and Driver v0.3, the gloves can now communicate to steam completely wirelessly.


    This requires using an ESP32 development board instead of an Arduino nano on the glove side.

    Change COMMUNICATION to COMM_BTSERIAL in the firmware, and communication_protocol to 1 in the driver.

    Currently, Bluetooth communication is done through Bluetooth Serial, but I will also be writing a BLE implementation later on.

    In other related news, the open-source VR glove driver that I have been working on in collaboration with Danwillm is now finally released on the Steam store!

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574050/OpenGloves/

    I recommend using the steam release of the driver instead of the GitHub zip, as you will get auto-updates as they roll out.

    I'll also be releasing a video tutorial on how to build and set up Prototype 3.1 very soon!

    Youtube Channel

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Discussions

Firestw152 wrote 03/18/2021 at 19:54 point

Is this compatible with index controllers? Or do I need to go and buy a quest 2?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Lucas LucidVR wrote 03/19/2021 at 15:56 point

Will be compatible with index if you use VIve/Tundra trackers

  Are you sure? yes | no

michiel wrote 03/18/2021 at 17:22 point

What I would love to see is this upscaled to full coverage of arms or complete upper body. Would that be possible?

  Are you sure? yes | no

James Gibson wrote 03/18/2021 at 17:10 point

Caught this on ThrillSeeker's Youtube channel. Am I missing something, or is this not actually _haptic_? This appears to be motion recognition only, again, unless I'm missing something.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Kurakumi wrote 03/19/2021 at 19:40 point

This is prototype 3, he's working on the haptics in prototype 4. This isn't a finished project

  Are you sure? yes | no

mlgkid wrote 03/18/2021 at 03:11 point

I'm going to order the parts this weekend and I'm going to test this on my quest 2 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Dustin Selman wrote 03/18/2021 at 02:50 point

You should start a Patreon

  Are you sure? yes | no

Kurakumi wrote 03/19/2021 at 19:40 point

He has one

  Are you sure? yes | no

ankudowiczpll08 wrote 03/17/2021 at 23:13 point

how to install the open source driver for the gloves to work?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jakub Nagy wrote 03/17/2021 at 22:13 point

I've stumbled on this project now and it looks quite impressive! Did you think about reducing the electronics size at this stage or is that just irrelevant right now? I did a lot of custom PCBs and miniturization work with both Arduino MCUs and the ESP32 (I noticed that should be in the next prototype), maybe I could help out with something.

  Are you sure? yes | no

josh wrote 03/17/2021 at 21:57 point

maybe I'm just being an idiot, but I can't find the 3D printer files anywhere. If someone could link me them I would greatly appreciate it.

  Are you sure? yes | no

JonathonModders wrote 03/18/2021 at 17:13 point

https://github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves-hardware/tree/main/hardware/Prototype3

  Are you sure? yes | no

jakey1man wrote 03/17/2021 at 21:09 point

how good is the tracking? since I have a rift s and it uses inside out tracking and the headset has to be able to see the tracking ring on the controller or the tracking will bug out

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tony wrote 04/21/2021 at 16:13 point

It would use the Rift S controllers for tracking, it does not have its own built in tracking method, just the finger tracking.

  Are you sure? yes | no

AlexandruCapatina94 wrote 03/17/2021 at 20:39 point

How about using electroactive polymers for sensing along the fingers  instead of the bulky potentiometer and pulley setup?

  Are you sure? yes | no

octavian.cioanca1 wrote 03/17/2021 at 20:25 point

When Half Life: Alyx 's trailer popped up in my Youtube recomandations, I instantly came up with a haptic glove similar to yours. My design never saw the light of day, since I'm not experienced enough to do it, but y design would use servos for the fingers and have the additional buttons in your palm. The buttons are easily explainable, but the servos are not. 
Inside a servo there is a potentiometer, and it would be able to record accurate position and give resistance. Would this be a viable idea?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Lucas LucidVR wrote 03/19/2021 at 15:57 point

I'm already demonstrated something similar on a couple of my tiktok videos, will be integrating servos in prototype 4

  Are you sure? yes | no

riversbenjamin5 wrote 03/17/2021 at 02:54 point

would it be possible to swap the potentiometers for mini stepper motors, cause they would be able to be recorded and provide resistance, or even mini potentiometers, to cut down on size.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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DJTheCreator wrote 03/16/2021 at 00:25 point

Oculus link basically makes the quest a rift so almost definitely 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Lucas LucidVR wrote 03/16/2021 at 14:37 point

Yes!

  Are you sure? yes | no

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Lucas LucidVR wrote 03/16/2021 at 14:38 point

I'd like to get there someday but no guarantees yet

  Are you sure? yes | no

Esteban wrote 03/15/2021 at 01:07 point

hey, are these supposed to work just like index controllers (at least on the finger tracking side of things)? if so this is very neat.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Lucas LucidVR wrote 03/15/2021 at 12:47 point

Yep! Personally, I consider the tracking to be even better than Index controllers when calibrated correctly. I'll also be adding force-feedback haptics in prototype 4 probably

  Are you sure? yes | no

LoneWolf7078 wrote 03/15/2021 at 16:51 point

The bad part about this is that oculus has hand tracking without any special gloves or devices:( but this would be good for others

  Are you sure? yes | no

DJTheCreator wrote 03/16/2021 at 14:04 point

@LoneWolf7078 Yeah but if you try and touch your hands together the tracking turns off. Also if you turn your hand the wrong way, or move it faster than an inch at a time it shuts off.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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