Apple has Advanced their 10-year VR Gloves Project by introducing a new Ultrasonic Detection System
Apple has been working on a VR gloves project since at least 2011. Patently Apple has posted at least four reports covering the progress of this invention (01, 02, 03 & 04). Yesterday the US Patent & Trademark Office published another patent application from Apple relating to this project titled Ultrasonic Force Detection.
Apple s patent application relates to
ultrasonic force detection systems and methods based on propagation of ultrasonic waves in a user s body (e.g., in a user s digit/finger). This is the first time that ultrasonic force detection has been used in connection with Apple s VR glove project.
Apple is again researching gloves that, in part, resemble those worn by Tom Cruise in Minority Report
Maybe it didn t help that Apple sometimes called it Force Touch, and sometimes 3D Touch. But whatever the reason, not enough people were even aware that you could press hard on a device to control it.
So Apple ultimately removed Force Touch, and if you knew what it was, you missed having it. It definitely feels like a bad move losing it from Apple Watch and so requiring more taps and swipes to accomplish certain tasks.
Now, however, it s possible that Apple thinks we re more likely to use Force Touch-like pressure, if we put on gloves that are built for it. Apple has previously researched using force-sensitive gloves to create gesture controls, but this is more about registering physical pressure as you press down on a surface.