HaptX's Joe Michaels spoke about the company's next-gen VR products, explained how its future haptic gloves will differ from others, and discussed HaptX's ultimate goal to create a full-body suit that can capture haptic feedback.
In September, the manufacturer of data gloves for virtual reality HaptX revealed that it secured $23 million in a funding round to support the development of its next-generation of haptic technology. The company shared that it will use the proceeds from this round to fund the commercialization of next-generation products building on the success of its HaptX Gloves DK2.
We talked to HaptX's Joe Michaels to ask him about the funding round, the company's approach to creating its next-gen products, and the company's ultimate goal.
HaptX
My name is Joe Michaels, I'm Chief Revenue Officer at HaptX. Two great engineers and inventors, Jake Rubin and Dr. Robert Crockett, founded HaptX in 2012. Things started when Jake reached out to Dr. Crockett, who was then a professor at the engineering school Cal Poly. Jake shared with Dr. Crockett his ambitious ideas for technology to bring realistic touch feedback to virtual environments.
Even though Jake was young at the time and had even recently dropped out of college, Dr. Crockett was so excited about Jake’s vision and determination, he agreed to co-found a company with Jake to pursue the ideas. The company was called AxonVR at the time and over the next few years, they hired a variety of engineers and scientists to help them validate their vision.
They dreamed of a general platform that could deliver full-body feedback to people enjoying games and other virtual experiences, with the goal of offering total immersion in the experience, with haptic feedback so realistic it could blur the line between the virtual and real.
The Founding Round
Many companies are experiencing a difficult fundraising environment at the moment. With significant volatility in the financial markets and with the uncertainty of global political events, it seems that venture capitalists have really tightened up their investments. We were extremely pleased to work with Centerview, a top-notch advisory firm that helped us explain our funding story. And we were very happy with the investors who participated in the round, many of whom were already on our cap table. The investors responded to our strong product and business potential.
HaptX's Next-Gen Products
We haven’t announced specifics about our next-generation products yet, but they are based on the success of our HaptX Gloves DK2 – technically speaking, because we are extending the patented microfluidic technology we employ in DK2, and also business-wise because we’re incorporating feedback we’ve heard from DK2 customers over the past two years. Our customers have told us what they love about DK2 and they’ve also asked for a number of improvements. When we share details of our new products, you’ll see many of these features and ideas taking center stage.
I can’t comment much yet on the features of our upcoming products, but I can say we’ve learned to achieve many advances in the hardware – ironically enough – without changing the hardware much, but by improving our software and firmware. We are finally getting around to developing code that unlocks the hidden potential of the hardware. So in addition to new features, you’ll see some exciting new improvements in our SDK including software tools and much more.
HaptX's Haptic Gloves
We serve enterprise, industrial, and government customers. Most organizations in these categories who have begun to use VR and robotics still use the plastic gaming controllers that come with VR headsets for touch input. Others have tried the passthrough cameras on the headsets that allow for hand tracking.
Controllers and low-grade hand tracking are generally fine for consumers playing games, but they serve as little more than the mouse of VR. Organizations that want to rely on VR for important industrial applications can’t depend on these poor, basic input technologies.
Controllers always feel like hard pieces of plastic. Hand tracking feels like nothing like you’re a ghost passing through virtual objects. The kinds of organizations we serve tell us they are waiting for haptic gloves that supply realistic tactile and force feedback. They are waiting for gloves with super-precise motion tracking. They are waiting for gloves like ours that offer such good touch feedback that a person in VR can use their hands reliably and naturally in mission-critical training and design software.
HaptX's Ultimate Goal
Fortunately, the same basic microfluidic technologies we developed and patented many years ago – which we’ve deployed in commercial products used all over the world – serve as a very good basis for feedback that addresses other parts of the body.
Also, early in our company’s history, we built big powerful exoskeleton technology to learn its capabilities and downfalls. We have built thermal technology that offers the incredibly immersive feeling of hot and cold. We have formed partnerships with companies and universities that will help us develop feedback for other areas of the body well beyond the single most complex part, the hands.
We don’t have anything specific to announce here, but I can say that we know just how we want to simulate touch and interaction more broadly and we’re excited to raise these funds to help us realize our ambition to deliver it.
Stay tuned. We hope to have exciting news to share in the months and years ahead.