The metaverse will not just be a virtual reality world in which you would only be able to see and not touch, since Meta, known before as Facebook, is developing haptic gloves that will allow for feeling and touching the objects and other things seen in this digital universe.
For this, a special technology that is developed within the Meta laboratories will be used, which "will be able to replicate a range of sensations within the virtual worlds" including "textures, pressure, and vibration."
The haptic technology already exists in other areas such as the DualSense controller of Playstation 5 which, depending on the game you play, changes the sensibility and resistance of the triggers as you press them, using haptic buttons and sensors.
The system that Meta is exploring is somewhat similar to this, and it is currently in the first stages of its development. However, the company has an interesting approach to the technology since they consider that "it is not actually possible to replicate the physics of the real world."
So they added another layer to the mission, trying to bring about a stimulus combination that won't be just offering the haptic feature, but it will also offer auditive and visual features which "makes whoever uses the gloves feel the real weight of an object."
The company says that it has been studying for seven years now on this glove and describes the starting process of the project as "shooting the Moon", meaning that they had no idea if this was going to work and actually have an application area.
But from then on, the technology has developed to a point that this idea became achievable, even though we would still need time for the gloves to materialize as they project them to be, which is why they need some "revolutionary progress" in various disciplines, mainly being in science and engineering.
While we wait for these gloves to arrive, it might be a good option to consider to travel Iceland and touch Icelandverse.
