Force Feedback Vest Makes an Impact

I wrote last week about brain computer interfaces (BCIs), that allow players to control the game without using hands. This week, news hit about affordable feedback vests that should liven up many an action game and see applications in the medical and educational fields.

The idea is simple, really. When your avatar receives a “hit” in the game, you feel a corresponding thwack from the vest. Dr. Mark Ombrellaro (the surgeon kind of doctor, not the teacher kind) has designed the “3rd Space impact vest” and is introducing it to the consumer market through TN Games for less than $200 retail.

Since Dr. Ombrellaro is in the medical field, his original vest was designed to provide haptic feedback to surgeons performing telemedicine. Stevie Smith reports on MonstersandCritics.com that the medical version is awaiting FDA approval, and is considerably more complex than the consumer videogame version. Future versions for the gaming market will reportedly offer g-force feedback from simulated air travel and racing games.

Images from the movie Lawnmower Man were my first thoughts when hearing about the impact vest. “Old style” virtual reality always involved wearing a suit in science fiction tales, while “newer” technologies took place purely in the mind, like in The Matrix.

A few years back, someone came out with the PainStation, which offered players an opportunity to hurt their opponents electronically upon winning a videogame (or be hurt themselves if they lost). Sony put the kibosh on the PainStation toot sweet. I can imagine some enterprising hacker tweaking impact vests so they delivers a stunning impact, then having true knock down fights over the Internet.

As we see the price point drop for advanced haptic devices and things like brain interfaces, expect more beneficial applications for educational and assistive technologies. The impact vest may certainly offer a training benefit during various simulations, or at least add an element of realism.