Giving Workers a Virtual Hand

The ability to have digital “hands” in virtual reality could be a game changer for creative professionals, allowing them to bring their designs to life in a three-dimensional VR space. California-based BeBop Sensors is making that possible with its Forte wireless gloves, which allow users to grab and manipulate digital objects as if they actually existed in real life. Thanks to flexible sensors embedded in their fabric design, the Forte gloves can track more of a wearer’s hands than other virtual-reality gloves (most of which are designed for simpler uses in video games). That translates into far better accuracy when replicating a wearer’s movements. Architects, for instance, are already using the Forte gloves to assemble VR models of their buildings that make it easier to see how they will look when constructed in real life. —Patrick Lucas Austin