Remember Virtuix Omni? I’ll never forget trying out an early version of the VR treadmill in a hotel suite several E3s ago. The system, which features a hollow platform and slippery shoes, was clever enough to affect Ready Player One’s perception of space. The electronics-free system finally started shipping earlier this year.
One thing you can say about virtual reality is that it inspires a lot of creative solutions to different issues around technology. The movement is major, of course. You lose some of that visceral feeling when your FPV idol is cruising while you’re just sitting there on the couch.
For the foreseeable future, however, all solutions will have some key drawbacks. The price is one in the case of Omni, and it will probably be for the lion’s share of this kind of peripherals. Other issues are size (it’s huge) and sound (it’s very noisy).
The HoloTile — which recently debuted on YouTube at the end of a video honoring Disney Research fellow Lanny Smoot — is a brilliantly clever and frankly quite elegant solution to some of these issues.
The system consists of hundreds of small, round “tiles” that appear to be about the size of a silver dollar. Each serves as a sort of mini, omnidirectional runway. Working together, their only task is to prevent the walker from leaving the pad.
“I can walk on this omni directional floor in any direction I want,” Smoot says in the video. “He will automatically do whatever it takes to stay on the floor. And what is amazing about it is that many people can be on it and all walk independently. They can walk in virtual reality and so many other things.”
The ability to support multiple people is perhaps the most impressive part of it all. Of course, there are many questions, including top speed (Smoot moves very intentionally in the video) and how much weight they can exercise. The big caveat to all of this is that HoloTile appears to be very much a research project right now.
One also assumes that a system like this in its current form would be prohibitively expensive for home use. If it is to see the light of day, it seems likely that it will be part of a Disney Parks VR experience.
