AECCafe Voice 
Susan Smith
Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More » Sensing the Future with BeBop SensorsFebruary 26th, 2020 by Susan Smith
Keith McMillen, Founder & CEO of Bebop Sensors Wearable Smart Fabric Sensor technology for Advances in VR & Wearable Tech, spoke with AECCafe Voice to describe BeBop Sensors’ technologies designed to feel the world in a different way.  BeBop Sensors Forte Data Glove with Oculus Quest
 BeBop Sensors Forte Data Glove Enterprise Edition BeBop’s core sensor technology was originally deployed by Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI), which now has over 2 million smart fabric sensors in regular daily use in its musical instrument products. Award-winning BeBop Sensors was spun out of KMI in 2014 to take advantage of the growing need for practical fabric sensors, with a proven record in design, manufacture and performance. Bebop Sensors comprehend force, location, size, weight, shape and presence across any size, resolution and geometry. In this way designers will be able to “feel” walls, floors and other features of the built environment. BeBop Sensors is the creator of the first fully featured affordable wireless data glove to incorporate haptics and super accurate rapid sensing. The Forte Data Glove is said to be the first VR haptic glove integrated and exclusively designed for Oculus Quest, Oculus Link, Oculus Rift S, Microsoft Windows Mixed Reality, HTC Vive Cosmos, HTC Vive Pro, HTC Focus Plus, and Varjo VR headset technology. The data glove is perfect for a wide variety of applications, including industrial, medical, human factors, virtual reality, gaming, design, and more.  BeBop Sensors Forte Data Glove with Oculus Quest Bebop sensors has won a number of awards – can you list them? Besides the TIME Magazine Award, there are What are some of the use cases for the BeBop sensors? While the BeBop Forte Data Gloves for VR applications have been getting the most attention recently, we have deployed our sensors in medical applications (wheel chairs, hospital beds, surgical training, insoles etc), sports applications (helmets, shoulder pads), computing applications (track pads), automotive applications (infant car seats, steering wheels), and a whole host of others. Is the wireless data glove a new invention? Yes, it’s a relatively new product. We built it as a concept product at a time when most of our designs were custom. But there was so much demand, that we made a standard product that can be used in a variety of applications. How will the Forte wireless data glove change the way the sensor technology will be used?
How can this technology be used in the architecture, engineering and construction industry – that already uses mixed and virtual reality for a lot of conceptual design and planning? This industry is early adopter for sure. With our gloves in a VR or MR environment, you can “feel” the walls. You can “feel” the carpet. You can “feel” the lawn. That’s a very different experience and allows for a much better perception of what the designer intended. Will the Forte data glove be used with other wearable technologies from BeBop and how will they all be employed together? The Forte data gloves are now being deployed in conjunction with wearables, like the Oculus Quest and other similar products. See: link. Within VR applications, we are seeing greater traction among customers that use VR for training. Our recent deployments in enterprise training applications, as well as military training applications show a strong use case. BeBop Sensors wins U.S. Air Force Contract Sibr Award How are BeBop products priced? Given that we make our sensors on a roll-to-roll line, which allows for a sensor web that is a few tens of inches wide and a variable length up to hundreds of feet, our costs are relatively lower. We price our products by market application and by volume and geography, and in most cases we are the most competitively priced. Are BeBop sensors used in the geospatial market as well, and if so, how? Our product is well suited for geospatial applications. Our sensors can accurately pinpoint location, gestures, force, and twist, and our customers have the ability to enable features that take advantage of these capabilities. Tags: 3D, AEC, architects, architecture, design, visualization Categories: 2D, 3D, AEC, AECCafe, architecture, BIM, building information modeling, construction, infrastructure, virtual reality, visualization, wearable devices |
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In the VR environment, people have always had reasonably good audio and acceptable visual display. But now with the BeBop Forte gloves, we introduce the sensation of touch, both by our ability to track the movement of hands/fingers, as well as via haptic feedback at the fingertips. This makes the virtual reality experience go from very good to amazing. To truly experience the technology magic in our gloves, you have to try it. The words I am using to describe it don’t do it justice.
