Haptikos has unveiled a hand exoskeleton, meant to allow you to to make use of your fingers with precision in haptic functions. It really works with prolonged actuality (XR) units.
Based mostly in Sunnyvale, California, and Athens, Greece, Haptikos got here out of stealth on the MIT Experiential Innovation Occasion in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The corporate additionally introduced it raised $2.7 million in funding. On this contraption, you put on one on each fingers. The exoskeleton can mimmick the texture of textures. It create the feeling of tactile suggestions, and supplies kinesthetics for studying by contact.
The exoskeleton helps you to seize issues in a digital world along with your fingers. It attaches to your hand by way of a strap. The exoskeleton fingers connect to your fingertips. It sort of seems to be like an enormous spider on the again of your hand. It might ultimately be a shopper expertise. However for now, it’s centered on robotics, manufacturing, protection, medical, and different enterprise functions. It’s aimed toward any XR functions that may use a whole sense of contact, stated Greg Agriopoulos, CEO of Haptikos, in an interview with GamesBeat.
“We live in a time where digital interactions are an integral part of our daily lives, from social media to work experiences,” stated Agriopoulos. “Our presence in the digital world still continues to grow. And as these trends accelerate, we can make this interaction more human.”
Haptikos’ hand exoskeleton works with VR units.
And it’s not simply {hardware}. It’s a part of the Haptikos ecosystem of built-in {hardware} and software program. It’s priced at $2,500 per analysis unit and obtainable singly as nicely. The eventual aim is a sub-$1000 ultimate value level by 2026 when the ultimate manufacturing items ship.
Paired with the corporate’s AI-infused Haptik OS (spelled haptik_OS by the corporate), the exoskeleton and OS mixture brings a full sense of contact to VR and AR apps and different use circumstances. The tech is obtainable for licensing.
“We are extremely excited to finally be emerging from stealth in the hallowed halls of MIT, where their slogan of ‘mens et manus’ – Latin for ‘to mind and hand’ – has taken on a new and very literal meaning,” stated Agriopoulos. “Competitive haptics solutions are normally glove-based, and never fit correctly on most hands — our exoskeleton fits everyone perfectly, is far more accurate, far less costly and is the only solution coupled with an actual software solution that makes it genuinely useful across a range of markets.”
Haptikos Exoskeleton
Haptikos’ hand exoskeleton could make your fingers really feel contact sensations within the digital world.
The corporate is the mind little one of Agriopoulos and Vasilapostolos Ouranis, who’re in Athens, Greece. Ouranis stated the funding got here by European Union applications akin to XR2Industry and XR4ED. These give non-dilutive funding to help cutting-edge innovation within the sector.
The exoskeleton prototype makes it doable to really feel the distinct sensations of various supplies, from easy surfaces to intricate textures. Whether or not dealing with digital objects in coaching or design, Haptikos makes digital environments really feel tangible and lifelike, enhancing total realism.
It has an increase of 12 milliseconds and a fall time of 55 milliseconds. Haptikos stated that ensures each contact and interplay feels fast and easy.
The Haptikos hand exoskeleton has 24 levels of freedom (DoF) per hand. It has sub-millimeter movement accuracy. And it has eight hours steady utilization, beating long-shipping business alternate options. As a result of the corporate controls each joint, it says customers can really feel lifelike actions from essentially the most delicate gestures to essentially the most advanced actions.
“It’s a human-machine interaction solution. You can use it for VR, AR, and robotics. We have customers doing that already. There is no need to recalibrate every time that we are reusing it,” Agriopoulos stated. “We see these limitations in several hardware solutions out there, where they use either in measurement units that they have drift effects and they have to recalibrate the system.”
The corporate takes AI and tailors the interactions for every particular software.
Every exoskeleton consists of monitoring sensors and haptic sensors. Kinesthetic sensors will likely be added later in 2025.
In our interview, Agriopoulos stated our senses demand full help and our fingers particularly want excessive accuracy. He stated the exoskeleton can be utilized for high-dexterity coaching for issues like surgeons in medical functions. It additionally has protection and manufacturing functions the place engineers maintain digital objects or do coaching for upkeep in cockpits. It might probably monitor movement and tech robots particular duties. Machine operators additionally need exact finger management after they working machines remotely.
Agriopoulos stated the tech is seamlessly built-in. It has a complicated software program ecosystem, superior {hardware}, and an AI-powered software program improvement equipment to create lifelike digital fingers.
“But what really sets our solution apart is the right balance between performance, ease of use, and adaptability,” he stated. “We managed to make it affordable, ensuring access to everybody who sees value in our system.”
The corporate collaborated with trade leaders like Siemens and Leonardo to refine the expertise and validate its potential.
Agriopoulos, pointing to a tech pioneer, stated, “As Alan Kay said, ‘People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.’ This is our philosophy. When we started this journey, there wasn’t hardware available that could support our software framework. And this actually motivated us to build our own. It ensures that every element of our solution works in perfect harmony to deliver natural interactions and experiences.”
The corporate centered its analysis on excellence in movement monitoring. It might probably monitor 24 levels of freedom per hand. It additionally has sub-millimeter movement accuracy in each one in all these levels.
“Whether it’s about a surgeon or an engineer, they have the capability to perform every gesture they want and the system can capture every high fidelity motion,” Agriopoulos stated. “So when we design the experiences, we know where every bone of our system is placed. We can more meaningfully drive and fire the subject sensors. So we see how important is the level of accuracy that the motion tracking provides in order to provide kinesthetic feedback.”
Suggestions on the expertise
Haptikos relies in Athens, Greece, and Sunnyvale, California.
“Haptikos exoskeletons have expanded the training program for the postpartum balloon procedure,” stated Aoife Mcevoy, specialist registrar and medical tutor in Obstetrics & Gynecology Nationwide Maternity Hospital on the UC Davis Faculty of Drugs, in an announcement. “Both clinicians and students experienced a significant improvement in their procedural skills following the use of Haptikos. The realistic tactile feedback and precise control enabled by Haptikos allowed for a more immersive and effective learning experience, greatly enhancing trainee confidence levels in their skillset for this critical procedure.”
By way of these sensors, Haptikos tracks the motion of every hand joint with exact element. This implies full, pure management over each movement. It ranges from finger curls to advanced hand gestures, making digital interactions really feel fluid and intuitive.
“Haptikos really impressed the entire MIT Innovation Technology team with their advanced haptics, and we are extremely pleased they saw the value of launching at our premiere event in tandem with the MIT Reality Hack,” stated Maria Rice, Government Director of the MIT Actuality Hack, in an announcement. “Haptics have been a long-overlooked component of a complete XR solution, and their combination of haptics, operating system and AI combined with the industry-leading Unity SDK is a win for all developers seeking the next XR frontier.”
Haptikos launched on the the first-annual MIT Experiential Occasion in January of 2025. It has the singular mission of delivering essentially the most lifelike and immersive touch-based spatial experiences.
It is going to be obtainable for lower than half the price of competing options, the corporate stated. And it has two passive suggestions methods for tactile suggestions. It’s a motor-based vibration interplay the place you may program the depth based mostly on the friction. The intention is to balancing the simulation and creating the phantasm that you’re touching one thing.
They began with a glove resolution, however they noticed limitations. One among them is that your hand will get sweaty after a sure period of time. And the combination of kinesthetic suggestions is tough. Lastly, there are a lot of completely different sizes for fingers and it’s exhausting to make a glove to suit all of them. The exoskeleton simply wants contact along with your fingertips and a strap throughout your palm. It rests on the highest of your hand. The kinesthetic suggestions is extra correct. You should use it for period of time, Agriopoulos stated.
Haptik OS
Haptikos has its personal {hardware} and software program for haptic contact.
The Haptik OS app is the central hub for connecting the Haptikos exoskeleton. It seamlessly integrates their capabilities into initiatives and movement management. And it redirects this information into the Unity Software program Growth Equipment (SDK).
The Haptik OS is itself on the core of the Haptikos ecosystem. It connects builders, designers, and end-users to create lifelike, intuitive and immersive experiences. By way of built-in AI performance, Haptik_OS routinely adapts pre-built libraries into new haptic XR functions. It does so in Unity, simplifying each integration and scaling.
The Haptik OS is obtainable by way of three tiers of license. For freemium, the OS has primary instruments for builders to begin exploring. The fundamental tier has software program improvement equipment (SDK) for integration into functions. And there’s a professional tier with full entry to AI-driven instruments for automated customization.
The corporate has eight full-time folks and 7 part-time folks.
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