Introduction to VR Movement
A recent trip to the Augmented Reality Expo got me fascinated with a giant issue with virtual reality: unless you will have an empty warehouse lying around, your VR gaming experience goes to be limited by the easy fact which you could’t walk very far. Exploring huge spaces and being fully transported is just about the purpose of many video games and VR experiences, and you’ll be able to’t achieve that full immersion if you’re apprehensive about bumping into your coffee table.
The Problem with VR Movement
But should you’re able to take your VR setup to the following level, there are methods to bring something closer to real movement into virtual worlds. None are perfect, but some are decent. Just a few are surprisingly inexpensive, while others are ridiculous in price. From omni-directional treadmills to motorized shoes, listed here are some solutions for walking in VR.
Omni-Directional Powered Treadmills
VR with an omni-directional moving treadmill looks as if something out of science fiction, but it surely’s available commercially now, but provided that you will have deep pockets. The device above is the Infinadeck, a multi-directional treadmill that helps you to move in any direction and reacts to the movement speed of your feet. This looks as if the answer to movement in VR, but it surely has a big downside: the fee. The Infinadeck is aimed toward businesses and institutions, and has the value tag to match. I could not find a precise figure on Infinadeck’s site, but an older version of its site gave a price of between $40,000 and $60,000.
Friction-Light VR Movement Platforms
The picture above is the Omni One from Virtuix, a VR device that takes a decidedly lower-tech approach to the issue of movement in VR. It’s principally a really slippery concave surface with a harness to carry you upright and sensors to detect your foot movement. You take a step forward and your foot slides back underneath you. A full system, including the treadmill, standalone VR headset, and all of the controllers you’d need is $3,495. Another friction-based option is the KAT Walk C2 CORE VR Treadmill. The concept is comparable, however the KAT Walk is a slanted platform versus a bowl-shaped one. It’s also more cost-effective at $999.
Shoe-Based Solutions to VR Movement
Maybe the reply is not to offer a floor that moves or a surface to slip on. Maybe the reply is so as to add tiny treadmills to the underside of shoes to allow you to "walk" without walking. That’s the concept behind Freeaim’s VR Shoes: you’re taking a step and your feet are guided back under you without you knowing it. To avoid broken hips, it requires a harness and stand, unless you are really brave. The projected retail price for these is $1,100, but they are not in the marketplace yet.
The Future of VR Movement
The death of Cyber Shoes and the low adoption rate of VR movement systems may very well be evidence that the technology is not there yet, the demand is not there yet, the costs are too high, or a mix of all three. But it may be evidence that we’re just not meant to walk in VR. I attempted out the slippery-surface platform from Virtuix for a transient moment, but a visceral fear of falling prevented a deeper dive. People who’ve tested out costlier omni-directional treadmills report that, while they’re cool, the walking doesn’t actually feel like walking.
AR vs. VR Experiences
For a real "walking around in cyberspace" experience, virtual reality is perhaps the improper medium. Augmented and mixed reality experiences that overlay virtual elements into the actual world allow you to walk around all you wish, with no $50,000 treadmill or a harness to carry you up. Games like Drop Dead: The Cabin, a VR zombie-killing game for the Meta Quest, are pointing the way in which. Drop Dead features a mixed reality mode that helps you to scan the room you are in, and the sport replaces some elements of real life with virtual, so the view out your window is of a unique world, and your end-table looks like a gun rack. Then zombies break in.
Conclusion
While Drop Dead: The Cabin’s "Home Invasion" mode is a reasonably limited experience that is sort of a pain to establish, in the longer term, when the tech gets there, I expect to see games that re-skin the actual world into Middle Earth or a distant planet in real time, allowing VR players to only walk around to their heart’s content, on their very own two legs. Until then, we could have to get used to moving the furniture, walking in place, and trying not to interrupt the lamp. The way forward for VR movement is uncertain, but one thing is obvious: we’re not there yet.
