【Seung Ha (승하) Archives】

Valve thinks it's solved the problem of tracking individual finger movements in virtual reality.

The Seung Ha (승하) Archivesso-called "Knuckles" controller doesn't look much different from what's out there, but it benefits from a number of innovative design tweaks.

SEE ALSO: Is video really the future of VR?

The Oculus Touch and HTC Vive "wands" do a great job of tracking hand gestures, but not so much with precise finger movements. Both rely on buttons, but it's an imperfect solution: buttons can't track finger movements, for one, and you've also got to always maintain some kind of grip on the controller (so you don't drop it).

Another problem with the current controllers: there aren't enough buttons to accommodate every finger.

As we've now learned, the Knuckles controller takes all of those issues into account. It hasn't been released yet, but developer kits are starting to ship out and Valve has posted some documentation online to help content creators get started -- and to give us plebs a look at what's coming.

On the surface, Knuckles looks a little like the Touch controller. Your hand slides in around a pistol-style grip, with a sensor-equipped half-circle of plastic wrapping around the outside. The big difference: knuckles straps directly to your palm.

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This extremely low-tech feature -- it's just a strap! -- makes VR mic drops possible. Observe:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Notice how the hand completely releases the controller grip and yet it doesn't fall to the floor. This is what progress looks like, friendos.

Knuckles is also equipped with scads of capacitive sensors that track a number of different things: where your fingers are positioned on each button, grasp/ungrasp gestures, and individual axes for your index, middle, ring, and pinky finger movements. That last one is key: the controller basically treats each of your fingers like a fleshy joystick.

These diagrams offer a good sense of the button placement and overall layout.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

According to Valve's documentation, the dev kit version of Knuckles includes a built-in battery that lasts for around three hours and recharges via USB Micro. Just be sure to note that this isn't necessarily an indication of how the finished product will work; dev kits often evolve as products are finalized.

How long this will take to finish is another question entirely. All of these new Knuckles details come from developer-oriented documents; the company has yet to publicly discuss any plans for a retail launch.

All I'd say is: stay tuned. Valve often works in mysterious ways, but it's now clear that these controllers are closer to being finished than not.

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