Emerge launches Kickstarter campaign to bring bare-hands tactile experiences to Virtual Reality with its ultrasonic device

In Virtual Reality News

February 9, 2022 – Emerge, a social virtual connection company, has this week announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for its ‘Emerge Home’ system: a product that enables immersive ‘bare-hands’ tactile experiences and the sensation of physical touch for virtual reality (VR) experiences.

The Emerge Home Kickstarter campaign, which is now live, will reward backers with early access to its first consumer product, which was recently revealed at the Into the Metaverse 2 summit hosted by GamesBeat.

According to the company, 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 enables users’ bare hands to be their controllers. Around the same footprint as a 13″ laptop, the device 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 Home is for people who see social virtual games as meaningful ways to connect emotionally with others,” said Isaac Castro, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Emerge. “We are excited for the first adopters of Emerge Home to start sharing this journey, in just a few weeks.”

The Kickstarter campaign will offer six product reward tiers for pledgers who will become the first adopters of Emerge Home, in two delivery windows: 

• An early delivery window in April 2022 will grant pledgers access to a Consumer Beta community, where they will share ideas and feedback to help Emerge enhance the user experience for its product;
• A second delivery timeframe in the Fall of 2022 will also provide additional tactile game content and experiences in development.

Other Kickstarter reward tiers will offer discounts for pledgers securing 2 or more devices, as Emerge Home has been designed for multi-user social VR experiences, for people to gather and play in a safe and trusted environment with their inner circles.

“We’ve designed Emerge Home staying true to our vision, informed by rigorous research, and inspired by the hopes and ideas of the people who have shared their insights along the journey of developing this product. Our early adopter Beta community will play a pivotal role in helping us shape the evolution of Emerge Home, which we hope delivers new and unique ways for people to feel connected across distance” said Mauricio Teran, Co-founder & Head of Insights.

“Emerge Home is the first step in a broader journey to create a new language of touch in virtual worlds,” said Sly Spencer Lee, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Emerge. “Through Emerge Home experiences and game rooms, we are excited to explore how we can better connect, play, and share emotions in the metaverse.”

The Emerge Home system is available today, February 8th, on Kickstarter. The company has given its device a retail value of USD $499, but at the time of publishing, there was still time left for early buyers to take advantage of a 24-hour launch sale pledge of USD $350. For more information about Emerge and its solution to provide bare-hands tactile experiences for virtual reality, please visit the company’s website.

Image / video credit: Emerge / YouTube