Korea-based TEGway is developing ThermoReal, a thermoelectric array which can generate heat and cold with impressively low latency. The flexible nature of ThermoReal could make it suitable for integration into VR controllers, gloves, and more. I've tried a few different thermal haptic devices throughout the course of my VR reporting, but nothing that really impressed me. Usually the effects are hard to notice because they don't feel particularly hot or cold, and they take so long to activate that it's hard to sell the illusion that the effect is being caused by something happening in the virtual world. I got to try the ThermoReal thermoelectric skin at the Vive X Batch 2 demo day in San Francisco this week and it's led me to become a believer in the value of thermal haptics for the first time. That's thanks to three things: Latency https://gfycat.com/ImpureTimelyAnteater ThermoReal—which is a thermoelectric generator based on something called the Seebeck Effect—is impressively quick to react. I held a prototype wand which had the ThermoReal skin embedded in it as I watched a video of a man jumping into a river. The moment he plunged into the water I could feel the wand get cold to the touch. Another video showed a car blowing up and the heat effect kicked in almost immediately with very little 'spin up' time. Keep an eye on the 'thermal imaging' section of the clip above to see how quickly the device changes temperatures. [caption id="attachment_64728" align="aligncenter" width="640"] TEGway's Thermoreal prototype device | Photo by Road to VR[/caption] In addition to hot and cold, the device can do both at the same time in close proximity, which is perceived as an amplified 'pain' effect compared to just using heat alone. Our sense of temperature is not nearly as latency-sensitive as our senses of sight or hearing, but thermal haptics must still be fast enough to help our brains connect what we're seeing with what we're feeling. For many potential thermal haptic scenarios, it feels like ThermoReal has passed an important latency threshold that helps sell that illusion. Amplitude It isn't just the speed of the hot or cold effect, but the extent of it too. I was impressed with how the device could achieve its maximum level of cold so quickly. Even more than the cold effect, the heat effect was so great that I had to loosen my grip on the ThermoReal prototype at times; I was honestly concerned the device could burn me. I asked one of the creators if there was any risk of injury and was told that the device would only get up to 4°C hotter than body temperature. Based on how hot it felt, I'm still skeptical of that claim, though it's possible that the rate of heat increase (rather than the measured temperature itself) could signal to my brain a more severe sensation of heat; I'll be interested to learn more about the minimum and maximum possible temperatures of the device. Form-factor Thermoelectric generators like ThermoReal are not new. What is new, says TEGway, is the form-factor of their device. It takes the form of a flexible skin-like array of conductors which can be curved and wrapped around various surfaces, which could make it perfect for integration into VR controllers, gloves, or even suits. [irp posts="62865" name="This Pulsating 'Haptic Skin' is Somewhat Creepy, Mostly Awesome"] They say it's the "world-first 'Stand-Alone' high performance flexible [thermoelectric device]. - - — - - For any good haptic device, figuring out how to use it is always the hard part. For ThermoReal, there's a number of promising applications beyond simply making the player feel hot in a hot environment and cold in a cold environment. As a few examples to get your imagination churning, the speed and amplitude of the temperature effects should be suitable for conveying the temperature of objects held in the user's hand. That could mean, for instance, allowing the player to feel it when their energy-weapon has overheated, or feel the cold of a snowball when held in their hand. https://gfycat.com/HoarseLateAfricanclawedfrog The company also says the ThermoReal skin can create the temperatures in discrete areas, potentially allowing for the feeling of virtual objects moving across the player's hand. You can imagine a sticky snail crawling across your hand, or possibly even larger creatures—like a snake coiling around your leg—if the tech was integrated into a suit-like device covering a larger portion of the player's body. Continued on Page 2: Lingering Questions » Lingering Questions TEGway's ThermoReal demo is in many ways promising, but there's a number of questions that still need to be answered to determine practicality of use for VR. For one, the prototype device I saw was wired and connected to a large box. Exactly how much energy is required to achieve the levels of hot and cold that I felt is unknown to me. Ideally integration with VR controllers or gloves would be wireless and thus battery-operated. In order to not churn through batteries, the device would need to be very efficient. [caption id="attachment_64727" align="alignright" width="325"] An example of ThermoReal built into a traditional gamepad form-factor | Photo by Road to VR[/caption] Another question is how much bulk it would add when integrated. The prototype wand I used was relatively large (a little bigger than a Vive controller) but only contained the electronics for the thermal haptics (no tracking or buttons). The thermoelectric skin itself is very thin and flexible, but it isn't clear to me yet how much supporting hardware is required for it to achieve the speed and amplitude of the thermal haptics that I felt in the demo. [irp posts="61337" name="Hands-on: Go Touch VR's Haptic Feedback is So Simple You'll Wonder Why You Didn't Think of it First"] And of course there's cost. TEGway says they've already manufactured a large scale batch of engineering samples, and that a commercial production run of the device is due in late 2017 or early 2018. How much the materials add to the cost of VR hardware is a major unanswered question at the moment, and so too is the durability of the skin itself and whether the fluctuating temperature could have a long-term impact on the durability of the device in which ThermoReal is integrated (as fast and large temperature fluctuations can lead to excess material stress through expansion and contraction). These are questions we'll have in mind as we continue to follow the development of this interesting thermal haptic device.