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The Dexmo F2 is a strange, multi-jointed device that sits on the back of your hand and extends right down to the ends of your fingers. It sort of crouches there, radiating a sense of coiled energy. In point of fact, it looks like it's priming itself to scuttle up your arm before entering your skull through the ear, where it will presumably do the kinds of things that you don't want anything doing in there - least of all a kind of steampunk mantis-spider with gears and brake discs where its conscience should be.Granted, I'm not sure these are good qualities to anticipate in something that's eventually going to be a consumer device. Luckily, though, behind the sinister thrill of the prototype's visual presence lies something you might actually be interested in clamping onto your body. The Dexmo F2's a single-hand exoskeleton designed by Dextra Robotics - a company name that conjures strangely lovable images of C3PO et al wearing sweat bands and Sketchers - and its aim is to give virtual reality games a vital sense of touch. You know: you'll reach out for something in a virtual world and the Dexmo F2 will halt your fingers, while applying a gentle force to your fingertips. The Dexmo F2 will complete the illusion. I really want to try it, although I'm hoping they debug the thing properly so that I can promise my wife that I'll still be able to play the piano afterwards.
Dextra Robotics' big hope is a rather strange device for sure, but it feels like the ragged outer edge of a storm that's been gathering for a while. Quietly, over the last generation, game designers started to get really interested in the notion of interacting with a game world via touch. Or, to get to the heart of the matter, they've gotten interested in the playful potential of materials and material physics.
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