Hey guys I think you might have seen this before but I was always thinking about VR and how to move like on the star trek holodeck. Now they use transporters, matter makers and photonics to do that. Today we could use this possibly and be able to simulate climbing up hills and stepping on rocks or things. Look here: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/73556.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_suspension
I had always thought that if a company could make a portable electronics system to plug into the wall outlet and let a magnetic field cover an area of your floor space that you could have true movement freedom VR in your living room. By what I mean, is that when you step onto the magnetic field area that its like walking on a floating surface, just a small amount of grasp to keep you from falling face flat and slipping your feet. I doubt anyone would make this as is seems to objectionable for mass market but at least our grandkids might be able to enjoy it.

To bad a whole bunch of us can't do more to get the ball rolling in vr and technologies. We should have electro magnetic sphered wheeled driving cars by now.

I still do need a hmd too, I just kinda want a wireless one that someone in my city actually sells. One day I guess.

Using any known technology, 2 problems instantly come to mind.
1. You can't change a magnetic field to move how you want in a solid state system (you have to physically move the magnets to change the field).
2. Nothing we have now is nearly strong enough to suspend a person in a stable fashion.

You'll have more luck researching less exotic systems, like rollerskates.

Then I would be thinking of having sphere wheels rollerblades that are suspended on magnetism controlled by a computer system for stability segmentation. Its easy to think of the mechanics of these things, just not everyones on the same wagon.

The Quantum Levitation works by trapping the flux lines in one direction, which is pretty cool, but no way near strong enough to keep a person in suspension.
Couldn't you get a similar effect by just covering a floor with oil? This would seem a much cheaper option.

I think the whole point of VR and technologies is to make it comfortable. Being able to wear your socks or bare feet while executing in VR is how I see it.

I think i might have missed a point in that I see a system like this not using -170 C materials but using an electric magnetic field that covers a .5 feet up 12 feet square invisible matter suspended field. So that when you step onto it you can see the floor beneath you, just that your feet are being held up by the force of a strong smushy magnetic field.

Now the science to perpell a person up in levetation, would'nt you just need to crank up the electric field lots. Send more electric current through the magnetic field amplifier.

All i can say is that VR would need something like this instead of all the other options. Maybe when we get holographic VR it will seem more of a working step.

I dont really see the benefit over using (for example) robotic arms to provide the feedback.

You can levitate almost anything with a strong enough magnetic field. At the levels you would need to levitate a person, I don't think you would actually want to be inside it as it would be impacting the nervous system, which essentially runs on electric impulses.
maybe if you had magnetic shoes, but I still don't see the benefit of this over a very slippery surface. Polished floor boards and microfiber socks anyone?

More imagining ideas on this and you could technically pulsate the top 1cm layer of a magnetic field to send tickle massaging pulses and vitamin particles to give your feet some needed care.

Or you could always have special made rubber insulated boots that tightly fit to your feet.

It sounds expensive and obsurd but to me I would want it.

This 'Quantium Levitation' thing is nothing more than the old flux pinning, or Meissner effect, that has been known about for decades. To levitate anything with an appreciable height would require a rather large magnetic field, larger than would be practical to generate at home.High strength magnetic fields are quite safe (here's a frog floating in a 16T field), and only rapidly changing fields induce appreciable currents.

@ EdZ: hight strength magnetic fields might not be harmful to the body directly, but actually are pretty dangerous since you have to make sure there is nothing metal that can be attracted by the magnets.

For the power of the magnets required to lift someone, this would be a non trivial problem.