The market for motion capture technology faces significant challenges that hinder its widespread adoption across various Industry 5.0 segments, such as extended reality (XR), robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as in sectors like entertainment and life sciences. Current technologies struggle with several critical issues, including the complexities of real-time object detection, occlusion, lack of tracking accuracy, and maintaining speed in real-time processing. These problems affect users at multiple levels, from initial setup to execution and post-processing, making the pursuit of reliable, efficient, and precise motion capture solutions a dynamic and ongoing research area in AI. Manus' solution is an advanced Electro-Magnetic Field (EMF) based tracking system that directly addresses the challenge of precise hand and object tracking within a 3D environment. This system, capitalizing on sophisticated EMF technology, innovates beyond current market offerings by providing a seamless, user-friendly experience that necessitates minimal setup while delivering high-precision enterprise experiences. The platform consists on Manus’ the Metagloves PRO, an EMF base and complementing tracking elements – all proprietary components backed by our modelling software, Manus CORE. This design ensures that all elements—electromagnetic field sources and sensors—operate within the same coordinate system, guaranteeing effective communication needed for finger tracking. The solution also addresses the prevalent issue of marker occlusion in traditional optical MOCAP systems, ensures consistency and reliability in tracking, and requires minimal recalibration. This translates to reduced operational costs and enhanced productivity. In the planned EIC project, the company aims to complete development and achieve market readiness of its platform technology to address key Industry 5.0 applications.

TACTILITY is a multidisciplinary innovation and research action with the overall aim of including rich and meaningful tactile information into the novel interaction systems through technology for closed-loop tactile interaction with virtual environments. By mimicking the characteristics of the natural tactile feedback, it will substantially increase the quality of immersive VR experience used locally or remotely (tele-manipulation). The approach is based on transcutaneous electro-tactile stimulation delivered through electrical pulses with high resolution spatio-temporal distribution. To achieve it, significant development of technologies for transcutaneous stimulation, textile-based multi-pad electrodes and tactile sensation electronic skin, coupled with ground-breaking research of perception of elicited tactile sensations in VR, is needed. The key novelty is in the combination of: 1) the ground-breaking research of perception of electrotactile stimuli for the identification of the stimulation parameters and methods that evoke natural like tactile sensations, 2) the advanced hardware, that will integrate the novel high-resolution electrotactile stimulation system and state of the art artificial electronic skin patches with smart textile technologies and VR control devices in a wearable mobile system, and 3) the novel firmware, that handles real-time encoding and transmission of tactile information from virtual objects in VR, as well as from the distant tactile sensors (artificial skins) placed on robotic or human hands. Proposed research and innovation action would result in a next generation of interactive systems with higher quality experience for both local and remote (e.g., tele-manipulation) applications. Ultimately, TACTILITY will enable high fidelity experience through low-cost, user friendly, wearable and mobile technology.