Tech Touch – Gijs Den Butter, CEO of Sense Glove – From Hand to Brain: Visionary Advances in Virtual World Technology

Gijs Den Butter, CEO of Sense Glove, discusses his company's vision of advanced design robotic gloves for rehabilitation and B2B training that can enhance a user's experience in a virtual environment. Haptics, the science of using touch sensation to interact with computer applications, is an exploding field that technology innovators are gravitating toward to aid them in the development of products that enhance the human experience. Den Butter's glove allows for the user to feel not only vibration responses, but also actual resistance when grasping virtual objects thus it greatly enhances the user's experience. The prognosis for Sense Glove's success in regard to patient rehabilitation is excellent, as the advanced glove technology allows for better engagement, but also, importantly, allows for the collection of data. And this data can be used to provide a physical therapist with specific information that will inform her or him which physical therapy techniques may be most advantageous. The glove technology enables learning, and thus creates an environment where real time data can be used to help a user translate their virtual experience onto true-life tasks, from buttoning a shirt to tying shoes and beyond. While the technology is in its infancy, progress is being made daily. The Sense Glove CEO will provide details on the state of the technology to date. One goal would be to enable users to feel the difference between a plastic, wood, metal, or any number of other surfaces. But currently, the glove can help decipher a difference, but not yet exact data to differentiate from the many surfaces that exist in the real world. Den Butter's glove can help with the simulation for a myriad of advanced tasks from surgery to welding pipes, as the user can feel the sensitivity and pressure on the hand and can thus pursue any endeavor utilizing the virtual knowledge. Sense Glove is heavily focused on B2B training, and though Dem Butter does see an opportunity for his technology within the virtual reality gaming world, currently the glove's entry into that market is user cost prohibitive.