Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill - Blue's News Comments

Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

[Apr 22, 2013, 09:11 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

The Virtuix Omni website shows off a prototype of the Virtuix Omni, which adds fancy footwork to the virtual reality gaming experience with an "omni treadmill" to track player movement. Their videos page has clips showing this being used with Crysis Warhead and Skyrim as well as for exercise, and here's a trailer noted by HotHardware (thanks Ant via Slashdot), showing it being used in conjunction with an Oculus Rift headset to play Team Fortress 2, demonstrating how it tracks player movement and orientation for some next-level holodeck style gameplay. Word is they are in the process of preparing a Kickstarter campaign to develop this for production. Here's more:

The Omni is the first omni treadmill that is affordable for household consumers, fits in a living room, and above all, enables the user to walk freely and naturally in virtual environments.

Applications of omni-directional movement in virtual reality stretch far beyond gaming: training and simulation, fitness and exercising, virtual tourism, virtual tradeshows and events, virtual meet-ups and multi-person adventures, virtual workplaces, virtual museums, physical therapy, VR architecture, VR concerts, etc. The possibilities are limitless. Virtual reality is the future.

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22.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 22:56

Jensen

Cutter wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:35: And still, a mouse and keyboard are approximately 1 zillion times better than this and 1/1,000,000th the price. And who'll be adopting games for it? No one. What an utterly useless toy. Better at what?

21.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 16:36

Atomic

The only "VR" I'm interested in is the ability to actually talk and have the game characters respond, instead of having to deal with mostly-lame decision trees. I'm tired on my only options being, heroic, apathetic, or sociopathic, if given an option at all.




"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." -George Bernard Shaw

20.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 15:22

NegaDeath

So how long until rule 34 kicks in?

19.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 15:17

Parias

Sleep wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 12:56: I quite fancy one actually - mixed with an oculus rift and it should be quite immersive. Not for everyone obviously, but if youve got the spare cash why not. Youre not going to be using it in online fps games unless you want to break bones / have a cardiac arrest, but until a holodeck comes along this'll do. Exactly - I'm very excited for this sort of concept for gaming. Hoping this tech turns out well, as I'll probably end up getting one to go with my OR. Edit: But ONLY if a Robot Jox game comes out to go with it.

18.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 15:01

saluk

VR doesn't excite me for games. I'm more interested in applications like those cheesy virtual tours and more motivating home exercise. I could take a walk in a park on a rainy day! The video of the grandma using the occulus rift is a good example of why VR is still a worthwhile direction to pursue.

17.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 14:47

jdreyer

This looks very cool. If I had the space and money I'd get one for sure. Walking is great low impact exercise, and two or three hours of this a day while playing Skyrim, WoW, or some SP shooter would be a lot of fun. I imagine you could even adapt this to something like Torchlight 2.

I imagine this will cost several hundred dollars. Normal treadmills cost $800 or so, and while this doesn't look that substantial, I can't imagine it being much less than that. Also, I would worry about this thing breaking, especially if you did a lot of running and jumping on it.

EDIT: Other questions: how is this thing tracking your movements? How is it allowing your feet to slide? It doesn't look like it has any wheels or anything. Is it just a slippery polymer angled twoard the centerpoint?

Also, they better make these things VERY robust. I can imagine the vertical pieces breaking pretty easily.

This comment was edited on Apr 22, 2013, 14:52.




Me: Waiting for the inevitable parody, Battleporn. Drayth: Just don't Overwatch too much.

16.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 14:06

NegaDeath

It's going to take baby steps to achieve the holodeck.

15.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 13:48

MoreLuckThanSkill

A few versions later on this and the Oculus Rift, hopefully after games start to get developed with these toys in mind, count me in. Oculus Rift is supposed to be around $300 for the retail version, right? Hopefully the retail version of the Virtuix isn't prohibitively expensive. Also, Sleep: real men will play Quake 3 with this setup. I wonder how long before you break one of these things trying to bunnyhop repeatedly in any Quake engine or QE derivative game. The videos did not exactly instill confidence in the construction of the prototype units. EDIT Oops 'J' already mentioned bunnyhopping. And Quake games. Dammit.

14.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 12:56

Sleep

I quite fancy one actually - mixed with an oculus rift and it should be quite immersive. Not for everyone obviously, but if youve got the spare cash why not. Youre not going to be using it in online fps games unless you want to break bones / have a cardiac arrest, but until a holodeck comes along this'll do. This comment was edited on Apr 22, 2013, 13:06.

13.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 12:53

PHJF

Ready Player One!




Steam + PSN: PHJF

12.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 12:06

TangoBaker

What an utterly useless toy. And, of course, I must have one immediately...

11.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 11:58

Creston

Lawnmower Man. Heh. God, that movie sucked. Virtual Reality will be an escape for some people, but the idea that everyone is going to just live virtually and have a treadmill ball in their living room is beyond ludicrous. Of course, this is the kind of view of life that single, in their late 20s geeks have, and they are typically the people that design stuff like this. Creston

10.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 11:57

Efflixi

Beamer wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:58: nin wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:32: McSterls wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:28: I saw the video of this last week, and it looks exhausting. I get wanting the VR experience that the Occulus Rift brings, but why would I want to run around on a treadmill? I'm going to KS a game called "Rabid Snow Wolves" that requires this and a rift. It involves a lot of looking over your shoulder. Meh. It's not truly frightening unless I'm in a freshly waxed kitchen and wearing socks. Gary Larson made a Farside about this... http://img.talkandroid.com/uploads/2012/03/luposlipaphobia.jpg

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 11:51

Creston wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 11:22:
Virtual reality is the future

Uh-huh.

Creston

Didn't you watch Lawnmower Man?




nin: This forum is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Blue: What do you mean, "biblical"? xXBatmanXx: What he means is Old BBS, El Presidente, real wrath of SysOp type stuff.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 11:22

Creston

Virtual reality is the future Uh-huh. Creston

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 10:58

Beamer

nin wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:32:
McSterls wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:28:
I saw the video of this last week, and it looks exhausting. I get wanting the VR experience that the Occulus Rift brings, but why would I want to run around on a treadmill?

I'm going to KS a game called "Rabid Snow Wolves" that requires this and a rift. It involves a lot of looking over your shoulder.

Meh. It's not truly frightening unless I'm in a freshly waxed kitchen and wearing socks.




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Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 10:55

nin wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:32:
McSterls wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:28:
I saw the video of this last week, and it looks exhausting. I get wanting the VR experience that the Occulus Rift brings, but why would I want to run around on a treadmill?

I'm going to KS a game called "Rabid Snow Wolves" that requires this and a rift. It involves a lot of looking over your shoulder.

If only this was compulsory for the old Quake games. That'd sure kill off the bunny hoppers!

literally, if they're unfit!




nin: This forum is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Blue: What do you mean, "biblical"? xXBatmanXx: What he means is Old BBS, El Presidente, real wrath of SysOp type stuff.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 10:39

Lorcin

Based on the TF2 video the treadmill needs to be bigger - the guy is not taking full paces instead doing a little mincey run.

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 10:35

Cutter

And still, a mouse and keyboard are approximately 1 zillion times better than this and 1/1,000,000th the price. And who'll be adopting games for it? No one. What an utterly useless toy.




"Hey! Nobody calls Moe St. Cool a phony!"

Re: Virtuix Omni - VR Treadmill

Apr 22, 2013, 10:32

nin

McSterls wrote on Apr 22, 2013, 10:28:
I saw the video of this last week, and it looks exhausting. I get wanting the VR experience that the Occulus Rift brings, but why would I want to run around on a treadmill?

I'm going to KS a game called "Rabid Snow Wolves" that requires this and a rift. It involves a lot of looking over your shoulder.




https://dancewiththedead.bandcamp.com/

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