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Walking In A VR Future

Posted by timothy on from the see-the-lovely-veldt dept.

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."

9 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. And... by N0decam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Holodeck jokes in 5...4...3...2...1...

  2. What about the nausea problem? by Jaywalk · · Score: 5, Interesting
    There's a new solution to the age old problem of physical movement within a virtual world.
    IIRC it's not exactly new, Star Trek uses something like it to explain holodeck movement, although there's the usual handwaving about "force fields" instead of moving tiles. But the real issue is going to be nausea. The problem occurs both in VR situations and in more prosaic settings like motion sickness. 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. That's why folks who get car sick are okay if they keep looking out the window; their eyes tell them that they're moving, so it's in sync with their inner ear.

    Could definitely be a downer if you're the next in line for that arcade game.

    --
    ===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
    1. Re:What about the nausea problem? by the_mad_poster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
    2. Re:What about the nausea problem? by CanSpice · · Score: 5, Funny
      IIRC it's not exactly new, Star Trek uses something like it to explain holodeck movement

      Here's a tip: Star Trek isn't real.
  3. Video? by Kiriwas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  4. What about a sphere? by Maestro4k · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

  5. ... oh, wow ... by ninjagin · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I've been waiting for something like this for years. VR games and VR/VRML worlds have needed this like crazy for the longest time.

    I can already think of improvements:

    1. Scale up the 4-tile model for walking, and have a 12-tile model for running.

    2. Force-feedback tiles for seismic or moving-walkway effectts.

    3. cushiony lifting-tiles to simulate low-g walks/runs/jumps.

    Of course, can you imagine the liability issues for a manufacturer of such a product?

    Very neat. I can't wait to have one. When they have it work with Unreal Tournament, I'll be sold.

    --
    .. pa-ra-bo-la, pa-ra-bo-la, 2 pi R, 2 pi R, where's your latus rectum, where's your latus rectum, 2 pi R
  6. Re:Mmmm.... Running in Doom by WormholeFiend · · Score: 5, Funny

    or you could get a bunch of your friends to dress as zombies and imps, and head over to the nearest paintball venue...

    have the management turn all the lights off, and the main rule is that you cant use both the paintball gun and the flashlight at the same time.

  7. 2d treadmills, motion sickness and Redirection by bitinglobster · · Score: 5, Informative
    This is reply to several posts. There's been a couple inquiring about other kinds of 2-d treadmills and spheres, both of which exist (see below for links to videos and papers).

    There are fundamental problems with all of these types of devices-- they 1) don't let the body handle momentum naturally and 2) don't stimulate the vestibular system in a way that is consistent with the visual or proprioceptive (the body's sense of where its limbs are) cues.

    1) Momentum: On a 2-D treadmill, the omni-directional treadmill is supposedly fast enough that it allows for running. But when you are running and then change direction quickly, your body will lean into the turn to counter its momentum. Doing this on the treadmill will make you fall over. Someone once described it as "running on a slippery ice cube".

    2) Vestibular cues: Our body can sense motion even without visuals or body movements. This is why some flight simulators have motion platforms [://www.simlabs.arc.nasa.gov/vms/motionb.html]. One post above said that the treadmill should reduce motion sickness because it provides body motions as well as visuals. But a treadmill doesn't cue the vestibular system. One theory of motion sickness is that it results from a mismatch of visual and vestibular cues. In the back seat of a car, your visual cues say you are still (relative to the inside of the car) but the vestibular system says you are moving. Similarly in a IMAX theater or while playing an FPS on a big screen, your visuals say you are moving but your vestibular system says you are still. Knowing how you are moving is critical for maintain balance and even surviving. The mismatch in visual and vestibular cues interferes with your ability to balance, and that's why dizziness results.

    Luckily, one can fool the vestibular system, much as we can fool the visual system. Techniques include "wash-out" on motion platforms, electrical stimulation, and Redirection. Wash-out is where the motion platform moves the user to simulate the virtual motion, but then sneaks her back to the center of the room at an acceleration that is below what her vestibular system can detect. The shifting tiles look like a fabulous idea, and I wonder if one could implement a form of wash-out on those tiles.

    Links

    One more thing, the problem with, as one post suggested, implementing VR in a huge wide open space (like a desert) is tracking. The computer needs to know where your head is and in which direction you are looking, very accurately and quickly, so it can draw the virtual scene from your perspective. By accurately, I mean with millimeter precision, and by quickly I mean it must update the images within tens of milliseconds of your head moving. If you focus your eyes on your figure at arms length, then rotate your head right and left, the reflex that moves your eyes to keep them locked on your finger is called the VOR (vestibular ocular reflex). It can react to head movements in 10 milliseconds.