Jamie F
A new vest that allows you to feel over 30 different sensations while taking part in a virtual reality (VR) experience has got us wondering about its potential in the sextech field.
Created by the Spanish tech company OWO Game, the device is billed as a ‘haptic vest’ – haptic meaning related to touch. The Lycra vest is battery-powered, wireless, and can deliver sensations to ten different sections of the wearer’s upper body.
While wearable items that deliver bodily sensations in gaming and VR aren’t particularly new, these new vests appear far more slimline than anything currently on the market. Many existing models are bulky, and look more like Laser Quest vests than anything you might wear in day to day life.
OWO Game is marketing its product as a gaming and VR accessory rather than anything to do with sex. Sensations the vest is designed to replicate include hugs, wind, rain, fast driving, punches and gunshots: the latter two effects being among those we hope aren’t as realistic as the ‘hug’ sensation.
The haptic vest and the sensations it delivers can be controlled by an app the company has designed to be paired with the device. It’s not on sale yet, but OWO Game is allowing you to sign up for a pre-order.
Similar products made by other companies are already on sale. In January 2022, the firm bHaptics was selling haptic vests in their TactSuit range, starting at $299. Models with 16 and 40 sensation points were available. The vests appear slightly bulkier than the OMO Game vests, and are very much aimed at gamers.
Could we one day see vests like these being worn for VR porn sessions, or for other sextech uses? The potential is obvious, but the OMO Game haptic vest’s lycra-based design might have to be developed to make it more bodily fluid-proof.
Haptic gloves, that allow the wearer to feel the sensation of touching virtual objects, are also increasingly making waves in the VR world. In December 2021, bHaptics announced the $299 TactGlove: a haptic glove aimed at the mass gamer market.
In many ways, it’d be more surprising if we didn’t see these technologies adapted to make virtual sex feel all the more real.
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