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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-a-walk-in-the-park dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Forget VR treadmills—Google patents motorized, omnidirectional VR sneakers

If virtual reality is ever going to become the immersive, holodeck-style platform that we all dream of, someone is going to have to figure out locomotion. Today, you can strap on a Vive or Oculus headset and more or less be visually transported to a virtual world, but the reality of, well, reality, means you can usually only take a few steps before you bump into your coffee table.

So far, we've seen a few solutions that take aim at VR's "limited space" problem. On the simpler side of the spectrum, one option has you stick a motion tracker in your pants and jog in place. On the more complicated end, there's the "VR treadmill" solution, which has you strap into a big plastic platform that keeps you in place with slippery footwear and a waist harness. Neither option is quite the same as natural walking, but a new patent from Google puts forth an interesting idea: what about motorized VR shoes?

The Virtuix Omni VR treadmill made us all hot and sweatyGoogle's patent describes what are essentially motorized VR roller skates that will let the user walk normally while the motors and wheels work to negate your natural locomotion and keep you inside the VR safe zone. As the patent puts it, Google's new kicks will let you walk "seemingly endlessly in the virtual environment" while keeping you in one spot in real life. Google's shoe solution would track the user's feet, just like how VR controllers are tracked today. The tracking would know when you're too close to the virtual walls of your VR area, and the system would wheel you back into place.

[...] This is just a patent and not a product, but we're still curious if Google can do this without the user falling over. Walking around in VR, where you are blind to the real world, is already a strange sensation that can mess with your balance. All the VR treadmills out there have a rigid waist support, in part to keep users upright if they stumble. Adding a set of wheels to the bottom of your shoes, which could start and stop unpredictably, may make staying upright a challenge. That said, if Google gets everything right, strapping on a pair of compact VR shoes sounds a lot easier than having to store a giant treadmill somewhere.


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  • (Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Tuesday November 27 2018, @10:51PM (1 child)

    by Magic Oddball (3847) on Tuesday November 27 2018, @10:51PM (#767071) Journal

    It shouldn't feel disorienting; treadmills don't simulate sideways or curved movement, even the old models have adjustable speeds, and the vestibular system wouldn't be affected since the person only leans forward as much as they would when performing the same gait on the ground. Either you were on a very strange treadmill, or have something screwy with your middle ear.

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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday November 28 2018, @10:43PM

    by Immerman (3985) on Wednesday November 28 2018, @10:43PM (#767547)

    Not really. Try walking across the room with your eyes closed. Then try doing the same on a treadmill (no fair holding on). I bet you good money you'll find the two experiences qualitatively different.

    The biggest thing is probably that any time you change speeds when walking normally, including every shift and bounce as you go through your gait, your inner ear knows what to expect. Walking on a treadmill you get zero net acceleration when "speeding up" or slowing down", and any slight adjustments in your gait has the opposite effect - at the extreme end, if you suddenly stop while standing on one leg, at a point in your stride when you should fall on your rear, you'll likely fall on your face if you're on a treadmill.