When thinking about virtual reality, most of us picture putting on a headset, such as the Oculus Rift, and becoming immersed into a new world. One thing we might not consider is how limited that immersion is, only including our eyes and ears in the experience. A group of hardcore roboticists at Dexta wants to use technology to start feeling the virtual world. They aim to “lower the boundary of robotics and virtual reality” with a new hand exoskeleton glove (or exoglove), Dexmo.

Dexmo is currently on Kickstarter seeking $200,000 in funding for its two different exoskeleton models, the Dexmo Classic and the Dexmo F2. Both fit over your hand, strap to your palm and each fingertip, but vary in mobility. The Classic gives you “11 degrees of hand motion – three degrees of movement for the thumb, and split and bend for the four fingers” (Cnet). Going a step further is the higher-end, Dexmo F2. Rather than similar wearable devices, which tend to provide simple haptic feedback and vibrations, the Dexmo F2 provides force feedback; giving your fingers resistance that lets you feel like your holding and object in a game or environment. Both models are wireless and use Bluetooth communicate with your computer.

Most obvious use? To be paired with the Oculus Rift, of course! But applications for Dexmo go beyond gaming. According to the company team, “Dexmo can be used for controlling a robotic hand, also providing you with a better presence by simulating a force feedback when an object is hit: or controlling a robotic arm, or double robotic arms performing a remote bomb disposal task”.

Although both are still in prototype mode, you can get one of these exoskeleton gloves for as low as $65 on the company's Kickstarter page. This will get you a development kit and the Dexmo Classic. For the Dexmo F2, you gotta put away $159. The devices will ship to customers, as long as Dexta reaches its $200,000 goal, by May 2015.