Reactive Grip
More actions
| Reactive Grip | |
|---|---|
| |
| Basic Info | |
| Type | Input Device |
| Subtype | Tactile Feedback, Haptics |
| Creator | William Provancher |
| Developer | Tactical Haptics |
| Announcement Date | 2013 (first public demonstration at GDC 2013) |
| Price | From US$650 per controller (enterprise dev kit pre-order price announced in May 2019) |
| Website | http://tacticalhaptics.com/products/ |
Reactive Grip is an Input Device with tactile feedback. It is developed by Tactical Haptics. By incorporating motion and force information through haptics, Reactive Grip aims to let the user feel that he or she is interacting with real objects in VR. Instead of relying on vibration ("rumble") feedback, it moves sliding plates in the surface of the controller's handle to reproduce the shear and friction forces a person feels in the palm when holding a real object.[1] Tactical Haptics named the technology "Reactive Grip" because the device reacts to the user's motions and actions.[1]
The technology came out of the Haptics and Embedded Mechatronics Laboratory at the University of Utah, run by William Provancher, who founded Tactical Haptics in 2013 to commercialize it.[2] The first prototype was shown publicly at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in 2013.[2] A 2013 Kickstarter campaign for developer kits did not reach its goal, but the company kept developing the controller with grants and venture funding, adapted it to the HTC Vive, Oculus Touch and other tracking systems, and later aimed it at location-based VR and training customers.[3][4] By March 2026 the Tactical Haptics website carried a notice that the company was closing down.[5]
Hardware
Reactive Grip is a motion controller that sends tactile feedback through its handle. It reacts to the actions of its user and allows the user to feel that he or she is actually grasping objects.
How it works
The controller's handle holds actuated sliding contactor plates, which the company also calls "tactors". When the user grips the handle, the plates move along its surface and stretch the skin of the palm, mimicking the friction and shear forces of holding a tool or other object.[6] The controller measures the movement of the player's hand and drives the plates in response, so that holding a virtual sword, slingshot or fishing rod produces the forces the player would expect from the real object.[2] In the research literature this kind of cue is called skin stretch feedback; Tactical Haptics calls it shear feedback and describes it as a middle ground between force feedback and vibration feedback.[6]
When all plates move in the same direction, the user feels a translational motion or force; moving them in opposite directions produces a twisting (torque) sensation.[7] The speed and size of the plate movements can be varied, and different cues can be layered on top of one another.[6] Provancher's white paper argues that desktop force feedback devices confine the user to a small workspace and can be expensive, while vibration cannot convey forces; because the Reactive Grip controller is not attached to a desk or robot arm, the user can move the hands freely.[6]
Tactical Haptics' software development kit (SDK) has plugins for the Unity and Unreal Engine game engines. The plugins use each engine's physics engine to calculate force and torque vectors from the user's interactions, which the company's software then turns into plate motions.[6] In a 2014 interview, Provancher said the SDK could either take forces directly from the Unity physics engine or play scripted effects such as a gunshot.[8]
Design changes
The 2013 GDC prototype used four sliders.[7] The Kickstarter version reduced this to three sliding bars,[3] and in December 2018 UploadVR described the production-ready controllers as having three metal plates in each handle.[4] The August 2019 revision of the company's white paper states that the device had been refined to use two sliding plates instead of the three or four used before, giving a smaller handle diameter and room for fewer, more robust actuators.[6]
The controller was designed to be independent of any one tracking system. The 2019 white paper lists integrations with Oculus, HTC and Windows Mixed Reality tracking and says the design could also be paired with OptiTrack, Vicon, PhaseSpace, Polhemus, Ascension or other trackers.[6] Later versions also have "Multi-Pose" magnet sockets on the outside of the handle, which let two controllers snap together during play into shapes such as a machine gun or a gamepad and steering wheel.[6][9]
History
Research origins and GDC 2013
Tactical Haptics was founded by Provancher in 2013 to commercialize haptic technologies developed in his University of Utah laboratory.[2] GamesBeat reported that the controller grew out of six years of his haptics research at the university.[10] The first prototype was a modified Razer Hydra in a 3D-printed housing, demonstrated at GDC 2013 with sword and flail demos. According to Road to VR, Palmer Luckey called it "totally badass" after trying it. At the time the company planned a Kickstarter for developer kits at about US$150.[7]
In October 2013, Road to VR reported that a newer prototype was much smaller and lighter than the GDC version and would have a slot for a Sixense STEM tracker, along with buttons, a joystick and a trigger on each controller.[11]
Kickstarter campaign (2013)
Tactical Haptics launched its Kickstarter campaign on 6 November 2013 with a goal of US$175,000.[3] According to GamesBeat, the money was meant to produce 1,000 test units for backers.[10] Early-bird pledges were US$159 for one controller and US$299 for two; standard pledges were US$179 and US$349. The development kits were wired, took Sixense STEM trackers internally, could also work with other tracking such as the Razer Hydra, Wiimote and PlayStation Move, and came with a Unity-ready SDK. Delivery was planned for October and November 2014.[3] The company's press release named possible uses beyond games, including augmented reality, tele-robotics, guidance for the blind, rehabilitation and other medical applications.[2]
The campaign raised US$57,491 from 270 backers on its first day. With one day left it stood at US$87,252 of the US$175,000 goal; late additions included a wireless stretch goal at US$245,000 and optional STEM tracking units at US$39 each.[12] The campaign did not reach its goal.[13] In a June 2014 interview with Kent Bye, Provancher said the campaign had competed with the launch of two new game consoles, that bundling tracking hardware had worked against it because developers preferred their own tracking, and that the US$175,000 target, based on his estimated cost for a batch of about 1,000 controllers, was probably more than the roughly 400 backers the campaign attracted could support.[8]
Grants, Vive and Touch prototypes (2015-2016)
At GDC 2015, Tactical Haptics showed a 3D-printed prototype with three sliding plates, wired to an external power pack and without built-in tracking. Provancher said the company had received grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation and was in residence at StartX, a Stanford-affiliated nonprofit accelerator; the NASA work explored tele-operation of remote robots.[13] In October 2015 the company prepared a Vive-compatible prototype for the VR Launchpad event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, using a sleeve so that a Vive controller could be put on or taken off the haptic controller.[14]
In July 2016, the company mounted the Reactive Grip prototype on Oculus Touch controllers for a SVVR meetup at NVIDIA's campus in Santa Clara. Road to VR wrote that the company's end goal was a single integrated controller that handled both tracking and haptics, rather than a VR controller mounted on a haptic controller.[15] In November 2016, Tactical Haptics announced US$2.2 million in funding to build a developer kit with mini-games: a US$749,000 National Science Foundation grant and US$1.47 million in venture capital led by SV Tech Ventures and Youku Global Media Fund, with SIG Asia Investment Fund, Sand Hill Angels and the Stanford-StartX Fund also taking part. The company said it was attending the SteamVR Tracking partner training.[16]
Tracker options and modular controllers (2017-2018)
At GDC 2017, Tactical Haptics showed the controller with Vive Tracker, Oculus Touch and a custom SteamVR Tracking attachment. Provancher said the Vive Tracker and Touch versions were lighter and more compact than the earlier Vive controller adapters, and that the custom SteamVR Tracking version was built within a few weeks of Valve's training course. The company also showed two mini-games, a space shooter and Cyber Golf.[17]
At CES 2018, the company showed a modular prototype that connects to a second controller with magnets and guides in several poses, with the haptic cues changing to suit each pose, such as recoil for a gun or torque for steering. Road to VR reported that the controllers were being piloted in IMAX's VR arcade.[9] UploadVR later reported that IMAX had used Tactical Haptics controllers for its Justice League location-based VR experience made with DC Comics.[4]
Production-ready design and dev kits (2018-2019)
In December 2018, Tactical Haptics announced a production-ready design. UploadVR reported that it had moved away from consumer VR toward the location-based VR and VR training markets, and that the new magnetic socket system let third-party adapters attach tracking from Oculus Touch, HTC Vive Trackers, Windows MR controllers, OptiTrack or future hardware.[4] The company showed the controllers to GDC 2019 visitors by appointment in a meeting room in the North Hall rather than at a booth.[18]
In May 2019, Tactical Haptics said it would open pre-orders for enterprise dev kits on 29 May 2019, starting at US$650 per controller, with shipping planned for the fourth quarter of 2019. The kits were aimed at enterprise and location-based entertainment customers and were to ship with tech demos, an SDK and plugins for Unity and Unreal. Brackets were available for the Vive Tracker and Oculus Touch, with brackets for Windows Mixed Reality and Oculus Rift S controllers planned.[19]
SaberGrip and later work (2020-2026)
On 20 August 2020, Tactical Haptics announced SaberGrip, a cylindrical controller that uses the same haptic actuation drivetrain as its modular controllers to move the sliding plates. The company said SaberGrip grew out of a lower-cost, single-board design made for the toy industry under its NSF Phase IIB grant, and that it added internal battery charging and tracking support for Oculus, SteamVR, Vicon and OptiTrack after a VR arcade partner asked for the form factor. The same announcement introduced Multi-Pose magnet sockets for standard Oculus Quest controllers, a two-handed SaberGrip, a sword-fighting experience and fishing hardware, and offered the company's in-line and right-angle actuators to partners who wanted to build shear feedback into their own devices.[20][21] In the release, the company said the controllers had been selling for VR arcade and VR training uses before the COVID-19 pandemic closed most location-based VR arcades.[20]
An archived copy of the Tactical Haptics home page from 1 March 2026 carries a notice signed "Mike & Will" saying that, after nearly a decade of trying to bring advanced haptic feedback to VR, the company was closing down.[5]
Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2013 | First prototype, a modified Razer Hydra with four sliders, shown at GDC 2013[7] |
| 6 November 2013 | Kickstarter campaign for three-slider dev kits launched with a US$175,000 goal[3] |
| December 2013 | Campaign ends short of its goal[12][13] |
| March 2015 | Updated three-plate prototype shown at GDC 2015[13] |
| October 2015 | HTC Vive prototype with a snap-on sleeve prepared for VR Launchpad[14] |
| March 2016 | Reactive Brush painting demo shown on a Vive controller at the VRLA Winter Expo[22] |
| July 2016 | Prototype mounted on Oculus Touch[15] |
| November 2016 | US$2.2 million in NSF grant and venture funding announced[16] |
| March 2017 | Vive Tracker, Touch and custom SteamVR Tracking versions shown at GDC 2017[17] |
| January 2018 | Modular controllers with magnetic poses shown at CES 2018[9] |
| December 2018 | Production-ready design announced[4] |
| 29 May 2019 | Enterprise dev kit pre-orders open, from US$650 per controller[19] |
| 20 August 2020 | SaberGrip controller announced[20] |
| By March 2026 | Company website says Tactical Haptics is closing down[5] |
Software
Reactive Brush
Reactive Brush is an in-house VR painting application that Tactical Haptics made to demonstrate Reactive Grip on a developer edition HTC Vive SteamVR controller. It was shown at the VRLA Winter Expo in March 2016.[22] Road to VR contributor Frank He, who tried it there, wrote that "'drawing' things in the air actually felt like I was drawing something on a physical surface, in the air."[22] In his own article he described it as similar in style to Google's Tilt Brush and wrote: "It felt like dragging a brush through a slightly thick medium of some sort."[23]
Other demos and mini-games
Tactical Haptics' demos and games have included a bow and arrow, slingshot, sword and shield, shooting gallery, gravity gun, flail, ball maze, deformable elastic object, box manipulation, throwing and catching, virtual painting and sculpting, dune buggy driving and fishing.[6] Its first two mini-games, a spaceship shooter and Cyber Golf, were shown at GDC 2017. The company said its games would also work with HTC Vive and Oculus Touch controllers but were designed for its own haptic controllers.[1][17] The 2020 SaberGrip announcement added a sword-fighting experience with a robot opponent and five difficulty levels, a fishing simulation with instrumented fishing hardware, and a VR training demo with tools such as a ratcheting wrench, drill driver, hammer, handsaw and winch.[20]
Research
Research on this kind of handheld shear feedback was published by Provancher's group at the University of Utah. A 2014 paper by Ashley L. Guinan, Markus N. Montandon, Andrew J. Doxon and Provancher at the IEEE Haptics Symposium describes a device with four independently controlled sliding contactor plates in its handle, combined with motion tracking, that conveys virtual forces and torques such as the inertia of a swung tennis racket or the impact of catching a lacrosse ball. In two experiments, the Weber fractions for telling apart different rotational inertias and torques ranged from 15 to 25 percent. The authors wrote that such feedback can give a sense of mass to a virtual object.[24] The company's 2019 white paper cites this paper, and its acknowledgments state that the white paper's work was supported in part by National Science Foundation award IIP-1632341.[6]
Reception
Road to VR's Ben Lang tried the GDC 2013 prototype and wrote that the stabbing motion in the sword demo "felt immediately natural", with the handle seeming to push back as the virtual sword met resistance.[7] After trying the Oculus Touch version in 2016, Lang wrote that he would "easily pick Reactive Grip over rumble" if forced to choose, but that the two complement one another.[15] Frank He's March 2016 hands-on was more mixed: he wrote that he "could certainly feel the direction of the feedback when wielding a flail or a gun" but that it did not feel quite natural or physical, while the painting demo worked better.[23]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Tactical Haptics Motion Controller Devices and VR Software". Tactical Haptics. Tactical Haptics, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/20250722135457/https://tacticalhaptics.com/products/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Reactive Grip Kickstarter Press Release". Tactical Haptics. Tactical Haptics, Inc.. 2013-11-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20240725211448/https://tacticalhaptics.com/reactive-grip-kickstarter-press-release/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Ben Lang (2013-11-06). "Reactive Grip Haptic VR Controller Kickstarter is Live, Early Bird Prices Start at $159". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/reactive-grip-kickstarter-tactical-haptics-haptic-feedback-vr-controller/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 David Heaney (2018-12-03). "Tactical Haptics 'Reactive Grip' VR Controllers Are Now Production Ready". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-vr-controllers-are-now-production-ready/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Tactical Haptics, Reactive Grip Touch Feedback Controllers and Games (archived home page, 1 March 2026)". Tactical Haptics. Tactical Haptics, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/20260301111125/https://tacticalhaptics.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 William R. Provancher (2019-08). "Creating Fully Immersive Virtual and Augmented Reality by Emulating Force Feedback with Reactive Grip Touch Feedback (Rev. 2)". Tactical Haptics white paper. Tactical Haptics, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/20250722135509/https://tacticalhaptics.com/files/TacticalHaptics_whitepaper_Aug2019-Rv2.pdf. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Ben Lang (2013-04-08). "Reactive Grip Brings Tactile Feedback to the Razer Hydra, Other Motion Input Devices". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-razer-hydra-gdc-2013/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kent Bye (2014-06-03). "#12: William Provancher on Tactical Haptics Reactive Grip, Unity SDK, Haptics as "The next big problem in VR," Kickstarter lessons, and conditional VC interest". Voices of VR Podcast. https://voicesofvr.com/12-william-provancher-on-tactial-haptics-reactive-grip-sdk-integrations-haptics-as-the-next-big-problem-in-vr-kickstarter-lessons-and-conditional-vc-interest/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Ben Lang (2018-01-11). "Hands-on: Tactical Haptics' New Controllers Let You Switch Your Grip on the Fly". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/ces-2018-tactical-haptics-hands-on-controller-switch-your-grip-on-the-fly/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Dean Takahashi (2013-11-06). "Get a grip! Tactical Haptics launches Kickstarter campaign for 'reactive grip' game controller". GamesBeat. https://gamesbeat.com/get-a-grip-tactical-haptics-launches-kickstarter-campaign-for-reactive-grip-game-controller/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ Ben Lang (2013-10-16). "Tactical Haptics Reactive Grip Controller: Smaller Size, STEM Support, Heading to Kickstarter". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-controller-smaller-size-stem-support-heading-kickstarter/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ben Lang (2013-12-10). "Tactical Haptics Reactive Grip Kickstarter Needs Your Help - One Day Left". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-kickstarter-needs-help-one-day-left/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Scott Hayden (2015-03-07). "Tactical Haptics' Will Provancher Talks Updated 'Reactive Grip' and We Go Hands-on". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/will-provancher-tactical-haptics-shows-updated-reactive-grip-prototype-gdc-2015/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Paul James (2015-10-19). "Tactical Haptics to Debut Vive 'Reactive Grip' Prototype at VR Launchpad". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-to-debut-vive-reactive-grip-prototype-at-vr-launchpad/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Ben Lang (2016-07-29). "Tactical Haptics Adapts Prototype Haptic Controller for Oculus Touch". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-oculus-touch-rift/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Ben Lang (2016-11-17). "Tactical Haptics Raises $2.2 Million to Build Haptic VR Controller Dev Kit". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-2-2-million-seed-investment-grant-haptic-vr-controller/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Ben Lang (2017-03-04). "Tactical Haptics Reactive Grip Controller with Vive Tracker, Touch, and SteamVR Tracking". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/hands-on-tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-haptic-controller-prototype-with-vive-tracker-touch-and-custom-steamvr-tracking/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ Scott Hayden (2019-03-08). "Tactical Haptics to Bring 'Production-Ready' Haptic VR Controllers to GDC 2019". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-bring-production-ready-haptic-vr-controllers-gdc-2019/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Ben Lang (2019-05-16). "Tactical Haptics to Open Pre-orders for 'Reactive Grip' Dev Kits on May 29th". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-pre-order/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 "Press Release: SaberGrip Brings the Physical In-Hand Experiences of Virtual Fishing, Sword Fighting, and Tool Training One Step Closer to Reality". Tactical Haptics. Tactical Haptics, Inc.. 2020-08-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20241208061846/https://tacticalhaptics.com/sabergrip-sword-fishing-press-release/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ Jamie Feltham (2020-08-19). "Tactical Haptics Introduces New SaberGrip For Feedback In VR Sword Fights, Fishing". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/tactical-haptics-sabergrip/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Paul James (2016-03-12). "Tactical Haptics Reactive Brush Lets You Feel Your Art on HTC Vive". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-brush-lets-you-feel-your-art-on-htc-vive/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Frank He (2016-03-07). "Tactical Haptics' Reactive Grip Technology is Still Magical". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/tactical-haptics-reactive-grip-technology-is-still-magical/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ Ashley L. Guinan, Markus N. Montandon, Andrew J. Doxon, William R. Provancher (2014-02). "Discrimination thresholds for communicating rotational inertia and torque using differential skin stretch feedback in virtual environments". 2014 IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), pp. 277-282. https://doi.org/10.1109/HAPTICS.2014.6775467. Retrieved 2026-09-27.