Project description
A novel virtual reality solution beats the competition hands down
The hands are instrumental in the way humans interact with each other and with tools and machines. Their highly accurate ability to sense what they are grasping or manipulating, adjust in real time and move objects through space is unparalleled in other organisms. Together with the wrist, the human hand has 27 bones, 27 joints, 34 muscles and over 100 ligaments and tendons, not to mention the nerve and blood supply needed to accomplish complicated tasks. Therefore, modelling it realistically is no easy feat. The EU-funded VirtualGrasp project has achieved it and is currently preparing its virtual hand–object platform for market. The virtual reality environment leverages software that analyses any virtual object and enables unprecedented realistic real-time hand animation and hand–object interaction. In addition to providing the virtual reality industry with a huge boost, the new platform will be invaluable to fields ranging from gaming to rehabilitation.
Objective
Gleechi was founded in 2014 by Dan Song (a PhD in biomedical engineering), Kai Hübner (a PhD in computer science & robotics) & Jakob Way (a successful serial entrepreneur), building up on 8+ years of advanced research at Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in enabling robots to use their manipulators more efficiently.
Gleechi develops VirtualGrasp – the first and only standard software solution that creates realistic real-time hand animation & hand-to-object interaction in virtual environments.
With predictive & adaptive machine learning algorithms that analyze the physical properties of a virtual object, decipher the most appropriate and realistic grip formation for the hand model and snap to that position, VirtualGrasp will enable immersion and presence in virtual reality not attainable by current ad-hoc methods, such as pre-animation.
The global market for virtual reality software is forecasted to reach €32.8bn by 2025 (with videogames, healthcare and manufacturing being the largest segments). Providing a crucial enabling technology for interaction with objects in virtual space, Gleechi aims to address three lucrative market segments: 3D videogames, training in manufacturing and stroke rehabilitation, and grow to €90m+ in revenues and 200+ employees by 2025.
Gleechi has been awarded Super Startup of 2015 by Veckans Affärer and is supported by several Swedish Innovation clusters, including STING, VINNOVA, KTH Innovation, EIT ICT Labs, and ALMI. Gleechi was listed as one of the hottest tech startups in Sweden 2018. In 2016 VirtualGrasp was listed as one of the 5 Swedish innovations that “could change your life”. Gleechi’s customers and partners include HTC, CEA, ABB, Intel, Karolinska Institutet and others.
We are currently running a Phase 2 project, and are requesting additional €490,000 of grant to industrialize our solution for robotics & €5.4m of equity to commercialize across 4 segments.
Fields of science
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationsvirtual reality
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationsvideo games
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2b - SME Instrument (grant only and blended finance)Coordinator
111 34 Stockholm
Sweden
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.