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 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.