UC San Diego creates VR glove using 3D printing

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about researchers at the University of San Diego who have created a robot using 3D printing that can walk on different types of terrains. This week, UC San Diego is back in the news again with their Jacobs School of Engineering who has been working on a soft robotics project that incorporates virtual reality (VR) with a lightweight glove that was created using 3D printing technology.

Typical VR devices use “remote-like devices” that make your VR experience not very realistic. Jurgen Schulze, a researcher at the Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego explained, “You can’t touch anything, or feel resistance when you’re pushing a button. By contrast, we are trying to make the user feel like they’re in the actual environment from a tactical point of view.”

A demonstration of the VR robotic glove at UC San Diego. Photo// jsoe on Flickr

Thanks to the researchers on this project, they have created a new VR experience that uses a special type of controller to help make your experience more natural and realistic. This special controller consists of a glove that was created using a “Mckibben muscle”, which is made up of “braided fibers” that respond like a spring when force is applied to them. To create their prototype, the researchers 3D printed a mold to create the soft exoskeleton of the glove and incorporated Velcro straps that are embedded at the joints. Thanks to this exoskeleton, the device is easier to create and can be mass-produced.