Exiii, a Japan-based startup working in VR haptics, is starting a free rental program across the US and Japan that will let developers go hands-on with the company’s latest haptic developer kit, EXOS Wrist DK2, for up to six months, free of charge.
Exiii launched EXOS Wrist DK2 back in October, and says the main users have been large enterprises with sizable budgets, although they aim to change this with the launch of the program.
The so-called ‘EXOS for Hackers’ program was devised to seed the developer community with their haptic devices, targeting independent or developers at startups that have limited budgets for a month-long period. Developers can request up to six months with the device however, which provides feedback to the wrist when using VR motion controllers, giving users haptic feedback for actions such as firing a virtual gun, using a virtual ping-pong paddle, or resting your hand on a virtual object like a table.
The previous model, EXOS Wrist DK1, was released in February 2018, but was only distributed in limited numbers due to manufacturing restrictions.
Exiii says the EXOS Wrist DK2 design has been streamlined to allow for higher production quantities though, which include significant reductions in weight, improved wearability, and a better haptic reproduction, which mimic different levels of hardness, weight, texture of virtual objects.
Exiii says ownership and rights associated with the content created through this program belong to the individual developers, although the company may ask permission to show the developed content via a movie or demo promotion in order to promote EXOS.
‘EXOS for Hackers’ applications are now open. Check out the demonstration video below to see EXOS Wrist DK2 in action.