Kaaya, a new startup has developed a motion capture (MoCap) suit called HoloSuit which not only offers motion capture, but haptic feedback as well.
The HoloSuit system includes a jacket with sensors in the arms. The rest of the sensors are fitted in the legs and hips of a pair of pants, and a pair of gloves with sensors for all 10 digits. The electronics are removable, making it easy for you to machine wash the suit.
It virtualizes your entire body and allows you to interact with the 3-D spaces around you naturally by touching the nearby objects pointing to the faraway objects and feeling those objects through the haptic feedback. This works similarly the way capacitive touch interacts with 2-D screens.
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The suit captures your entire body motion, including fingers, head and foot, and can transfer it to an avatar or robot in real time. This allows humans to operate humanoid robots leveraging the same tools which are built for humans in firefighting, nuclear disaster, or hostage rescue situations.
Holosuit replaces expensive physical simulators for defense equipment like submarines, fighter jets with virtual training environments where you can get trained either through holosuit AI or by remote trainers wearing holosuits who are sharing the same virtual space. This allows your body’s muscle memory to be fully trained by operating in the same physical space and getting real time feedback for virtual interactions through haptic sensors.
There are 2 HoloSuit configurations offered by Kaay Tech. The basic model has 26 sensors, which is more than what most MoCap suits offer, while the higher-end version has 36 sensors.
While other MocCap makers are targeting video games industry or Hollywood, Kaaya Tech sees an opportunity for their HoloSuit to be used in physical training simulations for dangerous industrial jobs, such as factory lines and heavy machinery operators. The HoloSuit can also be an excellent sports training tool, according to the company.
The HoloSuit can help you tremendously with your golf swing and let you know exactly where to improve your form.
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Kaaya Tech has already partnered up with professional golf, cricket, and yoga trainers to develop training simulation software. Indian military is another field where HoloSuit sees opportunity, so the company is working with them to create a submarine training simulator. The company is also working with a 10th dan (highest rank in Karate) from Okinawa to create a HoloSuit karate training simulator.
Kaaya Tech says Holosuit will cause a paradigm change the way you interact with the 3-D spaces.
The HoloSuit isn’t available in market yet, but Kaaya Tech is accepting orders through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, and it expects to start shipping in November.
