DextrES

DextrES is an experimental haptic glove developed by EPFL and ETH Zurich for grasping virtual objects. It combines resistance to finger movement with vibration at the fingertips. Its electrostatic brakes act on the index finger and thumb, while small piezoelectric actuators provide a separate signal to the skin. The project was presented at UIST 2018. Its researchers were Ronan Hinchet, Velko Vechev, Herbert Shea and Otmar Hilliges; Hinchet and Vechev contributed equally.

Reviewed 21 October 2026. Original UIST 2018 apparatus and user studies, institutional project history and separate follow-up work About review dates.

Feedback mechanism

The glove addresses two aspects of haptic feedback: kinesthetic feedback from resistance to movement, and cutaneous feedback delivered to the skin. Flexible metal strips form the braking mechanism. Electrically controlled friction between overlapping strips resists finger flexion, so a virtual object can have a physical stopping point during a grasp. Modular 3D-printed guides keep the strips aligned while allowing them to slide when the brake is released. The fingertip piezoelectric actuators supplement this resistance with vibration.

An electrostatic clutch uses conductive layers separated by an electrical insulator. Applying a voltage attracts the layers toward one another, increasing the friction that opposes their sliding. Reducing the attraction releases this coupling. This lets electrical control change how readily a flexible assembly moves without using a motor to drive the user's fingers. EPFL subsequently developed textile versions of this general clutch principle for gloves and sleeves.

The distinction between resisting and producing movement is central to DextrES. The user supplies the movement that the brake opposes. ETH Zurich's contemporary explanation associated this approach with low power consumption, but described the demonstrated glove as cable-powered; battery operation was a proposed development.

Experimental apparatus

The UIST paper measured up to 20 N of braking force at 1,500 V and 10 Hz. Its hand-mounted mechanism weighed less than 8 g including mounting hardware; the complete VR apparatus also needed external tracking, control electronics and a computer. The brake assembly was 6 mm high including attachments. The demonstration used OptiTrack, an Oculus Rift CV1 and Unity.

User studies

The original paper reported two small adult-participant experiments.

Experiment	Participants	Findings and boundaries
Force discrimination	6	Finger-by-finger comparisons found discrimination thresholds that depended on the reference voltage.
VR grasping	10	Four grasps were tested with visual feedback alone, piezo feedback, braking, or both haptic modes. Combined feedback reduced finger-object penetration in the pincer task compared with every other condition. Completion times did not differ.

Precision results depended on the grasp and comparison. For the lateral grasp, combined feedback outperformed braking alone, but not the other conditions significantly. For the power grasp, adding piezo feedback did not significantly outperform braking alone. These experiments do not establish general task-speed or training benefits.

Research context

EPFL developed the hardware at its Microcity site in Neuchâtel. ETH Zurich developed the VR system and conducted the user testing. The collaboration joined EPFL's Soft Transducers Laboratory with ETH's Advanced Interactive Technologies Lab.

The 2018 announcement discussed possible extensions to other parts of the body and applications in augmented reality and surgical training. These were research directions rather than demonstrated clinical outcomes. Later EPFL work used textile electrostatic clutches, with publications in 2019 and 2022. The laboratory identifies that work as building on DextrES. The later glove and sleeve designs are separate developments, so their performance figures should not be read as specifications of the 2018 prototype.