Manus Machina, a company dedicated to virtual reality input devices, has begun shipping their first sets of wireless VR gloves to developers.

Roaming the halls of Birmingham’s NEC covering EGX 2015 today, I bumped into the Manus Machina team, who gave me an impromptu demo of their prototype wireless input gloves, and an update on their development progress.

Manus’ PR Officer Bob Vlemmix happily informed me that the team had begun shipping their early developer kits to a selection of developers, meaning the work on content creation for the devices can now begin.

Manus' latest developer wireless input gloves being packed for shipping
Manus’ latest developer wireless input gloves being packed for shipping

Scott Hayden went hands-in with the new gloves back at Gamescom in August, you can check out his impressions here. The devices use a combination of per finger sensor strips and IMUs to track you digits and hands in virtual space.

According to the team, developer interest in the product has picked up significantly, with some big names potentially interested in working with the startup.

There are hardware improvements too, in the form of a new IMU which reduces yaw drift, an effect that can throw off your virtual hand’s orientation until recalibrated.

All-in-all, it was a positive update and despite some known issues with positional accuracy, the team seem to be achieving good progress.

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Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.