New punch sensations for VR gamers

When boxing or fencing, players are unlikely to miss the sensation of being hit by an opponent. That’s not usually the case, of course, for VR gamers. But change might be on the horizon thanks to “impacto, a device designed to render the haptic sensation of hitting and being hit in virtual reality”. Researchers Lopes, P., Ion, A., and Baudisch, P. will present their paper: ‘Impacto: Simulating Physical Impact by Combining Tactile Stimulation with Electrical Muscle Stimulation.’ at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST), Nov. 8-11, 2015, Charlotte, North Carolina, US.

Bonus question (optional): Are there any other (non-gaming) spheres where such tech. might find applications?