January 20, 2022 – Gleechi AB, a developer of interactive virtual reality (VR) solutions, has recently announced that VirtualGrasp, the company’s hardware-agnostic software solution that provides natural hand interaction, is now widely available for third-party developers to upgrade their VR experiences.
Gleechi states that VirtualGrasp is based on over eight years of research, initially in the field of advanced robotics and converging into a comprehensive developer offering for creating more natural virtual reality hand interaction experiences.
“We identified the need for a better approach to interaction early on, building technology to address the challenges in giving robots the capability to grasp objects intelligently,” said Kai Hübner, Chief Technology Officer at Gleechi.
VirtualGrasp leverages a cloud-based intelligence engine to develop an understanding of objects and how they can be grasped and used. According to Gleechi, by applying VirtualGrasp technology, developers can save hours of manual work when creating natural-looking grasps, thanks to the platform’s drag-and-drop grasp creation that seamlessly integrates into workflows.
Compared to hardware solutions in the market that try to address natural hand interaction through more accurate finger tracking devices, VirtualGrasp takes an entirely different approach towards the intelligent understanding of objects. Gleechi notes that this approach helps to facilitate more natural hand interactions and through being hardware-agnostic, does not limit users or developers to any specific sensors or VR controller hardware.
Dan Song, Head of R&D at Gleechi, commented: “We believe that VirtualGrasp technology will play an important role in providing more immersive virtual reality experiences and facilitate the vision of VR being a core component of the next phase of the Internet evolution. How we interact with the apps and services we depend upon daily is fundamental, and our shared objective is to make the mechanics of interaction seamless.”
Song added, “VirtualGrasp makes no assumptions around how hand interactions are captured, through controllers or any other means, and is designed to give users an experience that is so natural and intuitive that the technology becomes transparent.”
The VirtualGrasp software development kit (SDK) is available now through the Gleechi early access programme – to apply, click here. For more information on Gleechi and its solutions for virtual reality hand interaction, please visit the company’s website.
Image / video credit: Gleechi
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.