Facebook prototypes haptic feedback wristbands for AR/VR

Up until now, handheld controllers have been the primary tools VR and AR headset wearers have used for interactions with artificial worlds, but Facebook is already planning for a hands-free future — or at least one where you don’t need to hold controllers to feel feedback from the digital environment. To that end, Facebook Reality Labs researchers recently revealed prototype Tasbi wristbands that send various types of haptic feedback through the wearer’s hands and wrists.

Tasbi was unveiled at the World Haptics Conference 2019 (via UploadVR) as a set of small boxes linked by a central band. One large box is centered to look like an oversized smartwatch, housing a haptic actuator, while each of the smaller boxes has its own linear actuator capable of precisely sending vibrations and dynamically adjusting tension from different places on the wrist.