Emerge Launches its First Product to Bring Physical Touch to the Metaverse

[TheLostSwede]

Emerge, a social virtual connection company, today announced the launch of the Emerge Home system: the first product to enable immersive 'bare-hands' tactile experiences in the Metaverse. A recent study from National Research Group, uncovering consumer views of the Metaverse found that the majority are excited about the Metaverse, but 78% of consumers say "when interacting with people virtually, I miss the ability to physically touch and interact with them." Online, we miss non-verbal cues, sensory experiences, and ways of feeling things together. As virtual worlds become the epicenter of shared social experiences, they still lack a key pillar of our human experience - the ability to use our bare hands to feel, interact, and physically connect with those who matter most to us, our "inner circles".

The Emerge Home system consists of three components: the Emerge Wave-1 device, the Emerge Home social virtual experience, and the Emerge Home mobile app. The Emerge Wave-1 is a new tabletop device that invites your bare hands to be your controllers. Around the same footprint as a 13" laptop, it emits sculpted ultrasonic waves that allow users to feel and interact via touch in the virtual world. Through the use of Emerge's patented technology, the Emerge Wave-1 creates a mid-air field of interaction up to three feet above the device and 120 degrees around it.




"Emerge represents what we hope could be a next paradigm shift in human interaction," said Sly Lee, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Emerge. "Emerge Home's goal is to take people beyond the screen and allow them to connect emotionally in a natural way, no matter the distance between them."

Emerge is building a family of products that makes it possible for users to physically feel tactile experiences with bare hands in a virtual space without the need for gloves, controllers, or any wearables. "Emerge Home is the first step in a broader journey to create a new language of touch in the virtual world," said Isaac Castro, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Emerge. "We are starting with virtual reality today, and exploring other interfaces in the near future".

In anticipation of the launch of Emerge Home, Emerge raised an additional $13 million from strategic investors to finalize product development and support its early adopter community, bringing the total raised to $31 million. Notable new investors include Metaverse thought leader Matthew Ball, Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, world-renowned MEMS expert Kurt Petersen, and patent firm Schox. These investors joined Emerge's previous investors including M13 and Vulcan Capital.

The Emerge Home system and Emerge Wave-1 device will be made publicly available in February on Kickstarter, at a retail value of $499 for a limited time.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[kapone32]

How does this compare to actually going outside? Though I am sure the porn industry will be quite happy to invest in this.

 

[R-T-B]

How does this compare to actually going outside? Though I am sure the porn industry will be quite happy to invest in this.

Depends on where you live. Some places outside sucks.

 

[sepheronx]

Depends on where you live. Some places outside sucks.

He is in Canada like me.

It sucks.

 

[bobsled]

He is in Canada like me.

It sucks.

Canada sucks?! Perhaps you should get outside more...

 

[kapone32]

He is in Canada like me.

It sucks.

That's right it sucks right now -12 with a Windchill of -25 (Always no Micro Center) but driving across the 401 or anywhere in BC and the peaceful beauty of Eastern Canada in the Summer are things that I will never forget or want to experience in the Metaverse alone. I was someone that was heavy into VR. I even have one of those Chinese units (Deepon) from a few years back. I know it is a dead issue but Facebook(Meta) are the one reason why I will never own an Occulus, don't worry Steam and HTC get some too for making their units stupid expensive and who let scalpers know about Pimax? Oh well I loved reading that article that was produced warning about the danger of eye tracking for unconscious control (using mice in the experiment) that for some reason I can no longer find in a Google search.

That's right it sucks right now -12 with a Windchill of -25 (Always no Micro Center) but driving across the 401 or anywhere in BC and the peaceful beauty of Eastern Canada in the Summer are things that I will never forget or want to experience in the Metaverse alone. I was someone that was heavy into VR. I even have one of those Chinese units (Deepon) from a few years back. I know it is a dead issue but Facebook(Meta) are the one reason why I will never own an Occulus, don't worry Steam and HTC get some too for making their units stupid expensive and who let scalpers know about Pimax? Oh well I loved reading that article that was produced warning about the danger of eye tracking for unconscious control (using mice in the experiment) that for some reason I can no longer find in a Google search.

And I forgot to mention we have a honest voting system.

 

[R-T-B]

Canada sucks?! Perhaps you should get outside more...

How do you get more "outside" than Canada in Wintertime? Space?

 

[user556]

Deja-vu on the 3D TV, 3D cinema twice, VR twice already, and now .. well VR again.

 

[LabRat 891]

Only thing positive I have to say about 'metaverse' anything is: I hope these technologies can find use in aiding the handicapped interact with the real world.

 

[Space Lynx]

Only thing positive I have to say about 'metaverse' anything is: I hope these technologies can find use in aiding the handicapped interact with the real world.

I'd bet on Elon Musk's Neuralink helping with that more than anything Zuckerberg touches.

 

[Warigator]

Only thing positive I have to say about 'metaverse' anything is: I hope these technologies can find use in aiding the handicapped interact with the real world.

I hope it will allow for escaping this horrible and terrible reality, which is a dream of mine since childhood. Real world sucks, there's nothing good in interacting with it.

 

[LabRat 891]

I hope it will allow for escaping this horrible and terrible reality, which is a dream of mine since childhood. Real world sucks, there's nothing good in interacting with it.

I have shared that desire much the same, and have largely overindulged in escapism throughout my life. Even to this day, I would go nuts over the opportunity to pilot a BattleMech or (Aero)Spacefighter in VR. (I was bummed when I found out I was too young to experience MechWarrior Battle Pods in the early-mid 90s)

The current path we're on with the popularization of such technology is a fulfillment of that wish in the worst way. 'Myths' of Genie and Djinn come to mind.

 

[oobymach]

It's -36 at my house right now, frostbite to exposed skin in minutes, loads of fun if you like freezing to death and frostbite but some of us don't like that.

As to the metaverse, you already live in it, go touch something and you can feel it is there but as soon as you stop touching it it only appears to be there.

You are made of nucleons and electrons and 99.999999999% empty space, for all intents and purposes you me and everyone and everything are just holograms in a complex computer program.

 

[R-T-B]

As to the metaverse, you already live in it, go touch something and you can feel it is there but as soon as you stop touching it it only appears to be there.

You are made of nucleons and electrons and 99.999999999% empty space, for all intents and purposes you me and everyone and everything are just holograms in a complex computer program.

So you watched the Matrix and decided it was right?

Keep in mind, while no one can prove you wrong, no one can prove you right either.

 

[oobymach]

So you watched the Matrix and decided it was right?

Keep in mind, while no one can prove you wrong, no one can prove you right either.

I woke up once as a brain in a jar and I'm not sure I ever left the jar.

Seriously I woke up like from sleeping and I couldn't move because I had no arms or legs or body or face, I couldn't breathe but it only bothered me for a second, I noticed I couldn't look around because there were needles in my eyes (the needles are projectors) and I came to the conclusion that I was a brain in a jar of some sort and after a bit a small grey "person" opened the door and walked into the room right up to me and reached to my right and hit a button or switch and I was instantly back in my regular body awake with no transition from sleeping because I already woke up in the jar and I was like "I was just a brain in a jar".

This could actually be the matrix, at least for me, the rest of you are part of the complex simulation world that convinces me I'm human and live on Earth but I know damn well I'm a brain in a jar somewhere. It only bothers me when I blink my eyes rapidly after having them closed for a while at night in the dark I can see the 2 dots from the projectors inserted into the eyes of my brain jar self. My thoughts on it are brain jar me is ghosting a human (myself) to gather information from the past sort of like Assassins Creed Animus machine only literally my consciousness is piggybacked onto this human in particular, me via a brain in a jar.

Everything everyone of us does is fated.

 

[R-T-B]

I woke up once as a brain in a jar and I'm not sure I ever left the jar.

Seriously I woke up like from sleeping and I couldn't move because I had no arms or legs or body or face, I couldn't breathe but it only bothered me for a second, I noticed I couldn't look around because there were needles in my eyes (the needles are projectors) and I came to the conclusion that I was a brain in a jar of some sort and after a bit a small grey "person" opened the door and walked into the room right up to me and reached to my right and hit a button or switch and I was instantly back in my regular body awake with no transition from sleeping because I already woke up in the jar and I was like "I was just a brain in a jar".

This could actually be the matrix, at least for me, the rest of you are part of the complex simulation world that convinces me I'm human and live on Earth but I know damn well I'm a brain in a jar somewhere. It only bothers me when I blink my eyes rapidly after having them closed for a while at night in the dark I can see the 2 dots from the projectors inserted into the eyes of my brain jar self. My thoughts on it are brain jar me is ghosting a human (myself) to gather information from the past sort of like Assassins Creed Animus machine only literally my consciousness is piggybacked onto this human in particular, me via a brain in a jar.

Everything everyone of us does is fated.

The traditional rational explanation would be sleep paraylsis. But either way, I reiterate:

Keep in mind, while no one can prove you wrong, no one can prove you right either.

Everything everyone of us does is fated.

I mean, I'll agree with that as I'm a fatalist philosophically speaking. But it has nothing to do with brains in jars... it has to do with chemical reactions being predictable, and the natural outcome of that conclusion.

 

[oobymach]

The traditional rational explanation would be sleep paraylsis. But either way, I reiterate:




I mean, I'll agree with that as I'm a fatalist philosophically speaking. But it has nothing to do with brains in jars... it has to do with chemical reactions being predictable, and the natural outcome of that conclusion.

The brain jar was upright, about 3-4 feet off the ground, everything was blurry as if the jar was filled with fluid and I was facing the door mostly that the little grey guy came in. When he flipped the switch or whatever I was awake eyes open sitting upright in a chair in my body with no waking up sensation it was just like blorp now you're here now. Also didn't have eyelids, that was an odd feeling, not being able to blink.

 

[silentbogo]

That's a sure fail before release, and that's coming from a person with a soft spot for gimmicky input devices. In my time I beat half of HL2 with wiimote on PC, played TF2 with Novint Falcon, and did lots of other things that don't make sense, but this one is even beyond me....
First off, you are trading freedom of motion for inconsistent haptic feedback.... in a VR game....
Second, it looks like the surest way to f@#$k up your rotator cuff, and you don't even need to play sports or lift heavy weights to do so

 

[DonKnotts]

"National Research Group, uncovering consumer views of the Metaverse found that the majority are excited about the Metaverse"

And what consumers did they ask? Everyone I know either has no idea what "Metaverse" is, or wants nothing to do with it.

 

[Warigator]

Seeing that it takes now around 4 years to double CPU or GPU performance at constant price and Neuralink kills monkeys, I don't think we should expect Metaverse realizing anytime soon. But advancements are welcomed. I am not a fan of mobile VR, because its performance is pathetic. My 2016 RX 480 is so much faster than the GPU in Oculus Quest 2. And I consider my GPU to be slow. Mobile VR would maybe make sense if there were 1000x more powerful headsets. For now it's only a dream. They've made progress, but it's still not good.