TechInsights teardown: Woojer Vest Edge

Gaming is a huge market. Billions of dollars each year is spent on gaming accessories to enhance the experience of the user whether it be a joystick to control an airplane, a steering wheel for driving games, a gaming mouse for enhanced functionality or keyboards to expand control for the user.

Enter the Woojer Vest Edge. It is a gaming vest that improves the user experience by providing haptic feedback that relates to what is happening in the game. The vest includes six OSCI TRX52 haptic transducers with two located in the back area, two on the side of the vest and two in the front of the vest.

Haptic feedback is the use of touch to communicate senses to users. This could be as simple as vibration in a mobile phone or a rumble in a game controller. However, more advanced haptic feedback sends vibrations and senses to the overall body such as in the vest with multiple inputs for sensations.

The vest can also be used for watching movies where action on the screen is related to the user through the haptic feedback to give the user more of a sense of immersion and feel for what is happening.

The vest also includes Bluetooth control to connect to other accessories or devices, two audio jacks to support headphones and USB Type-C for charging.

The following is a partial deep dive into the Woojer Vest Edge performed by TechInsights.

Summary points

• OSCI TRX52 haptic transducers
• Bluetooth SoC
• Audio power amplifier with Audio DSP
• Headphone audio amplifier

Target market: Gaming

Released: June 2020

Pricing: $499

Availability: Worldwide

The main board of the Woojer Vest Edge contains the brains of the vest with audio jack and Bluetooth connections. Source: TechInsights

Main board

The main board of the Woojer Vest Edge consists of multiple components to operate the vest including the Bluetooth on/off button, volume button, charging port, function button and USB Type-C as well as the audio jack and Bluetooth antenna. The components on the main board include:

• Analog switch from SG Micro.
• Dual 105 mW audio power amplifier from Texas Instruments.
• ESD protection chip from ON Semiconductor.
• DC-DC converter from Feeling Technology Corp.
• 5.0 V/180 mA LDO regulator from 3peak.

(Learn more about audio amplifiers with Globalspec)

The Bluetooth board of the Woojer Vest Edge contains flash memory and other components to enable wireless connections. Source: TechInsights

Bluetooth board

The Bluetooth board contains the electronic component necessary to wireless connect the Woojer Vest Edge to other devices, gaming systems and accessories. The components included in the board are: flash memory from Macronix; Bluetooth 5.0 audio system-on-chip from Qualcomm; and a 3.3 V/150 mA LDO regulator from AFSemi.

(Learn more about Bluetooth components with Globalspec)

The transducer board is the control center for the haptic feedback sensors in the Woojer Vest Edge. Source: TechInsights

Transducer board

The transducer board is the brains that controls the transducers that scattered throughout the vest. There are a total of six transducers in the vest to provide haptic feedback to the user to give an enhanced experience while gaming or watching movies. The components on this board include:

• 30 W class-D audio power amplifier with audio DSP from TI.
• 8-channel I2C switch from TI.
• 3.3 V/800 mA LDO regulator from TI.
• Battery charger from TI.

(Learn more about transducers with Globalspec)

Main components by cost

• $25.61 – Battery subsystem – Wooyoung Energy Holdings (Qty: 1)
• $16.80 – Main vest (Qty: 1)
• $8.40 – OSCI TRX52 haptic transducers (Qty: 6)
• $2.86 – Bluetooth subsystem – Sky Jiarun Technologies (Qty: 1)
• $2.35 – 30 W Class-D audio power amplifier with audio DSP – TI (Qty: 3)
• $2.10 – Transducer cover (Qty: 6)
• $1.30 – Transducer cover (Qty: 5)
• $1.23 – Internal foam (Qty: 1)
• $1.22 – 4 layer conventional FR4/HF – Eisun Electronics (Qty: 1)
• $0.79 – 6 layer conventional FR4/HF – Eisun Electronics (Qty: 1)