Thermoreal Is Here To Add a New Layer Of Realism To Your Gaming Experiences

The world of AR and VR is becoming more and more immersive with various gear developments happening constantly. One of these startups made a decision to pursue the thermal experiences. A spin-off of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, called TEGway made a very curious thermo-electric device (i.e. ‘TED’ for short) that can make speedy temperature changes from 4 to 40 degrees Celsius. Although it is very slim and flexible, it is able to be heated and cooled down in different places on the same surface at the same time. TEGway is hoping to integrate their invention into various AR and VR devices, such as chairs, haptic suits, gloves and joysticks.

The company is labelling the device as ‘ThermoReal’, saying that their device is a new step for adding a new layer of realism to your gaming experiences. It works by running an electric current through its array of thermoelectric semiconductor, which creates a heat flow between the top and bottom substrate layers and thus making it behave like a heater or cooler. However, the more widely known effects of the device are reverse: a temperature difference applied to the semiconductor can induce a current flow (Seebeck effect), in which case the gadget acts as a power generator and can be used for harvesting waste heat.

TEGway developed flexible TED in order to optimise the efficiency of capturing heat on non-flat surfaces, which performs better than its ceramic counterpart. The device have proven to work pretty well, so it is now up to TEGway to convince various manufacturers to adapt its solution.