Omnidirectional Treadmill / Virtual Reality Floor

[roidroid]

@TheCosay the CyberCarpet already uses balls like that.

watch?v=bdGH3eOuGIM

[Alucard9692010]

i had the exact same idea about 6 years ago

[wationsfils]

i would suggest a bigger version with a animated character that proves that project has a future.

[wationsfils]

that was very interesting. if you need any support for 3d drawing and animation just let me no.

[tieguyny]

@TheCosay You should check out my updated version.

[mitch13815]

this is very detailed you have alot of talent

[Dahunted128]

Awesome i hope more people keep thinking about ideas though one thing it kind of needs a gate

[roidroid]

I think using a flattened torus would put less strain on the treadmill material (less elasticity needed - perhaps none needed at all), but would require a more complex supporting mechanism.

[superfluent]

Good idea. The concept was also evaluated by the Technische Universität München three years ago. No material was found suitable to be wrapped around the disc and waer was detected inside the gap on the sied so the concept was not followed.

[electronash]

Also, you could do away with the separate load cells, and have weight detection placed underneath each set of the motor / ball "movers". The movers would allow a change of direction very fast, and should reduce the friction on the carpet / rollers because the motors wouldn't need to pivot.

This should also allow movement in any direction just by adjusting the relative speeds of the motors.

You should only need three "movers", so this only brings the number of motors up to six (from your four).

[NewbYears]

do you mean like if your running in a first person then for whatever reason have to jump back fast it wouldnt keep moving in the direction you were just moving causing you to fall over?

[electronash]

Oh, found some vids. It was the CirculaFloor I was thinking of...

/watch?v=rYsvB2y2Ero

Other designs don't look quite as good!...

/watch?v=hyLKjyL-Dw8

Anyway, back to your vid - I agree with the others about the wheels needing to change direction - what you could do is have two motors at each location instead, but with a ball on top (just like an old PC mouse in reverse). The ball would make contact with the carpet...

[electronash]

Hi, this is an interesting problem. I've seen many of the designs like the Cyberwalk and that video of the moving platforms which create "stepping stones" in front of the user, but I like the challenge of your more direct approach...

The first thing I noticed with your design is that when the motors move, the entire platform would try to move too - I'm assuming you'd have some rollers around the edge of the machine to hold the platform in place while allowing movement of the carpet?...

[luckychrms420]

You need to pair up with Jonny Lee's head tracking software, a spherical 360 degree screen with 3-D glasses in a first person shooter.

[roperneal]

great minds think a like :)

[mavric17]

Why just one of those balls on each weigh cylinder thing? Wouldn't it be easier for the carpet to move if it had multiple balls to help distribute weight?

[foreveraskater]

Greenfourth, i assume that rather than the wheels spinning around 180 degrees, the wheels would simply spin in the opposite direction, but the same problem persists in all aother directions, for example a 90 degree wheel turn. Also, quick wheel turns could possibly create friction which could lead to wear on the carpet, so the carpet would either have to withstand this constant friction or the wheel to carpet contact would need to be modified. And also, i agree with Ambush's point.

[Greenfourth]

Great idea! Every time I think about VR I think about what the best way to let someone actually walk without running into a wall or something.

Just one thing. With the spinning wheels, you said in the video that the wheels are always going (except if you stop moving i assume). If someone is walking one way and then suddenly turns 180 won't there be residual sideways motion as the wheels swing around?

[Ambushcrysis]

The only problem I see with this is that the treadmill isn't going to move until he foot is placed on the floor. A better solution to this would be to use laser sensors rather than weight sensors so the treadmill could start moving as his foot is going to take a step.