Shoes with motorized wheels could revolutionize the manner in which gamers walk through VR worlds. Currently being developed by UK/US startup Freeaim, the clever kicks are essentially little wearable treadmills.

While it’s easy enough to replicate users’ real-world head and arm movements in VR environments, walking is a bit trickier. After all, if a gamer is walking the length of a virtual city block within a game, they can’t very well be covering that same distance in real life … or at least, not without running into things.

One solution to this problem involves using what are known as omnidirectional treadmills. These tend to take the form of slippery round(ish) platforms that slope in toward the center like a bowl. As the user walks on that platform – facing in any direction – their feet continuously slip in to the middle, keeping them in place.

According to Freeaim, however, some people describe walking on such platforms as feeling more like skating, or like pushing awkwardly against the inside of a dish. Additionally, omnidirectional treadmills are relatively large and expensive, plus they require the user to be supported by a harness or wrap-around railing.

By contrast, Freeaim VR Shoes are more like electric roller skates.

  • over_clox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    262·
    4 months ago

    Oh joy, $5000 high tech shoes!

    Sign up in advance, get the final polished product within 5 years, and then 3 years later they’ll kill the app/service that controls them…

    • dindonmaskerEnglish
      122·
      4 months ago

      $1k for the consumer version and they aim at reducing the price for future versions. I’ve been following the project for about 2 years and they seem like genuinely good people who want to make a cool and useful product. I’m personally more interested in these then in a kat walk vr treadmill.

      • over_clox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        4 months ago

        Still, there’s been something of a pattern recently where new ‘smart’ devices end up losing support after like 3 years or so.

        So, I’d hope those fancy shoes directly connect to your VR system, because if it relies in any way on the internet, they can just up and turn it off whenever they want as so many other companies have done.

  • SkyezOpen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    4 months ago

    As that person steps forward with one leg, omnidirectional wheel modules on the other leg’s shoe move that leg back

    Sounds like VR to ER content waiting to happen.

    • GrassEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      some vr games I have tried have controller stick walk and physical walking separate so if you do both you can move really fast at the expense of needing a huge space and the risk of getting really disoriented and injured. It’s been a while so I’m not sure which ones prevented it but some did which was even more disorienting.

      anyway I put in more effort than real life…

  • Honytawk@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    4 months ago

    Wouldn’t allow walking to the side though.

    Disney’s solution is still much better.

  • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    11·
    4 months ago

    I’d rather just have a reliable walk-in-place option. I walk in place without it just for the immersion but it would be great to pair locomotion technology.