Walking In A VR Future

neol'schmoe writes "There's a new solution to the age old problem of physical movement within a virtual world. Researchers in Japan have come up with tiles that move in concert with a user's pace and motion to allow free range of motion while literally walking in a virtual environment and never leaving a very small area in the real world."

Comments

Video?

[Kiriwas]

This really seems like the sort of technology you'd want to show video of. Is the motion smooth, if you make a quick step forward then back will you fall as it keeps trying to move forward? These are the things I'd like to know. This is an awesome technology (if it works) and could be of great use to us where I work. We're currently working with omni-directional treadmills... which leave a lot to be desires as well as make noise that sounds like a jet engine.

What about a sphere?

[Maestro4k]

Wouldn't it be simpler to use a sphere sitting on rollers so it would turn with the person inside it? It wouldn't have to be too large to keep the interior curve to a reasonable level (so the person inside didn't feel they were always walking uphill. It wouldn't have to have many electronics (no predicting where the user's walking, just move with them) and rough terrain could be handled with a sort of wallpaper like object attached to the interior.

These tiles are neat but it seems to be making the problem more difficult than necessary. Yes a sphere wouldn't allow doing a duck and roll but most applications would probably be walking/running anyway.

Re:What about a sphere?

[Tlosk]

Hehe, are you sure? It seems to me like a couple tiles of the size shown in the picture are a heck of a lot simpler and more cost effective than a freely rotating sphere of a size big enough to both fit a person and have a small curve (you have to go pretty large, over 20 feet diameter, before you get away from a strongly pronounced curvature).

Their idea is actually quite clever, and perhaps more importantly, could be something that would end up being relatively low cost.

I wouldn't want to try to get litigation insurance though, I can readily see people falling and hurting themselves (through little fault of the product, lot of clumsy people out there) and sueing them.

Re:What about a sphere?

[sls1j]

A sphere may be simpler but it would still need to have some sencing capability and motorization. Otherwise say you were running at top speed. That sphere is going to have a lot of angular momentum so when you try to stop quickly you'll fall flat on your face and be flipped around several times while the ball slows down.

Re:What about the nausea problem?

[Enry]

If what your eyes tell you (you're moving) is out of sync with what your inner ear tells you (you're not moving) a lot of people get nauseous and toss their cookies.

But you *are* moving. It just happens that your movement is cancelled out by the floor. So things like head bob will still happen, but it's because your head is really bobbing as you walk.

This is an awesome starter!

[bennomatic]

Anyone remember the first "dactyl attack" game in the arcades. Huge helmet, a ring that keeps you in place, and a "walk" button on the gun to move forward. It was the best thing at the time, but totally unnatural. If this can really do true--or nearly true--360 degree tracking in 2d and eventually map to uneven terrain, that'd be awesome.

What might be interesting for uneven terrain would be something like those old "pin art" toys you could get at Headlines or Yarmo Zone. You know, the ones with 1000 pins on a rack in square formation, and you would reset them by dumping them all to the back, and then pushing something--your face or a fist or something uneven--into them, and on the other side you'd get a pin sculpture of your hand or whatever.

It wouldn't work for everything (i.e. simulated overhangs in a climbing situation), but if you had something like that on a huge scale, maybe covered with some sort of flexible surface, you could simulate some pretty interesting terrains if you had the computer determining the pin positions.

What About Equipment Failure?

[AnonymousKev]

Okay, I'm feeling pessimistic today.

Moving tiles means there are gaps. Gaps means things can be wedged into those gaps. Now what happens when you're running in VR land and wedge your foot into the fast-moving tiles? Suddenly, not being able to see your real-world foot doesn't sound so good ...

Re:What about the nausea problem?

[the_mad_poster]

That's because Slashdotters are smarter than the average gym user and won't pay $75 a month to walk on a moving belt when they can just go out the front door.

Re:exercise while gaming...

[Ced_Ex]

Umm... isn't that just called "sports"???

Football, hockey, soccer... that's all "exercise while gaming"

Nothing new