New Rising Media

View Original

Gamer Combines VR Headset With An Omnidirectional Treadmill

A company called Virtuix has shown what gamers can do when you combine the Oculus Rift VR Headset with their omnidirectional treadmill, bringing true virtual reality gaming into the home.

Called the Omni, it replaces the controller with a 360-degree piece of grooved plastic.  Using a Kinect, connected to a PC, it translates all your movements onto the game character, namely the soldier from Team Fortress 2 in this video. 

"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." Their website reads.

The Omni will be on Kickstarter too, as Virtuix are preparing the campaign materials.  Of course this technology has existed before (remember the holodeck?) but this will be the first of its kind in the world to be affordable to consumers.