It has been clearly stated by both Sony and PlayStation that they have a strong interest in the virtual reality sector. Recently a patent was discovered showing the design of what could be the evolution of the PlayStation Move and PlayStation VR controller, which would also have detection of hand movements.
In recent days a document emerged in which the members of Sony Interactive Entertainment – Hideki Mori and Kazuyuki Arimatsu – explained the operation of a device that can capture the movement of the fingers and replicate it in a virtual reality environment, but what is more attentive here is that they also released a video with the demonstration of the device, whose design closely resembles that shown in the patents at the beginning of the year.
In a video titled “Evaluation of Machine Learning Techniques for Hand Pose Estimation on Handheld Device with Proximity Sensor,” the project developers explain that the device can detect movement thanks to capacitive sensors with the counts (they determine the position of the fingers in space), and it can represent them in a virtual world.
According to the document, the prototype has 62 electrodes and allows very complex actions to be carried out in a virtual reality environment. As an example, you can see in the video that it would be possible to manipulate objects of different sizes in a very careful way. The demo also shows that the device has no problem picking up signals from a sweaty hand or from conductive objects such as jewelry.
It is normal for this project to think of PlayStation Move and PlayStation VR, the current controllers for Sony’s virtual reality experiences, apart from the fact that the research was carried out by members of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
However, we would like to mention that this research is in the prototype phase, so it is possible that it will not become a product for marketing purposes. In any case, it is always good to see that Sony has always been very interested in the development of virtual reality and apparently it will continue to support this technology.
