Locomotion device from Zeiss headtracker company (Video)

[STRZ]

It's in german though, sorry for that, but the video is still interesting i think

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Neue-Tech ... e-1061942/

TL;DR

It resembles some basic ideas also discussed in a older locomotion thread in the Rift subforum, especially the turning approach which simulates turning through the platform turning, the harness doesn't turn like it's the case with the virtuix omni for example. Further they use a Kinect for foot tracking too, their demo you see on the screen in the background is based on the Cryengine 3.

The Locoport will cost over 2000€ they say, also that consumer VR is years out of reach for most, totally ignoring whats going on over here ( )

Personally i think the Virtuix Omni is far more interesting. And by calling the Zeiss a VR device and braggin about the sharp graphics just means they haven't tried the Rift yet

[JanVR]

STRZ, thanks for posting this! Inreal had announced last year in an interview with Road To VR that they would disclose their consumer locomotion device in early 2013. Glad to see that they reinvented the String Walker for $2,000!

[STRZ]

Well, exactly they said that offering it under 2000€ would make it reachable for consumers like the gaming crowd, implying that it may even cost much more. My impression is that they're shooting for the VRML medical industrial and university research crowds, they made some hints towards this in the interview. Fits pretty well with the Zeiss image too.

[colocolo]

nice video. i agree that the virtuix omni resemble a more natural gait.
but nevertheless the IMU gun they have created seems to be a nice product as the tester pointed out.

[cybereality]

Interesting, but its somewhat limited if you can't turn 360 degrees.

[STRZ]

It's supposed to fool your brain thinking that you're turning while you're not. I believe Fredz or Msat had a similar drawing of a prototype in an older thread, where you're held by a type of device integrated backpack, and have a turning platform below your feet. It must have worked somehow, otherwise they wouldn't use it. That's the advantage if you have a budget for research, they can try out a lot of things..

[WiredEarp]

Doesn't look bad. I don't see a problem with not being able to physically turn 360 degrees. As long as the user feels they are turning, then there is no issue apart from software issues with having to modify the head position with offsets generated by the artificial turning (IOW, you can't just assume 180 degree head rotation means that you are facing 180 degrees away from the origin point).

Its basically a 'stringwalker' system isn't it. It looks more professional than the Wizdish/Omni type systems, but I dont really see any advantages to it compared to those.

Either the gun in the vid wasn't well calibrated, or the model wasn't correct, as it seemed to be shooting at an off position to the gun model.

[zalo]

So it's like a wizdish, but it has a rigid backpack harness, and it's not a dish...

It could be cool if they could bring the price down 75%.

Detection of forwards/backwards can be detected by pressure sensor in the harness...

[ChrisJD]

I had a quick look at the middle of the video. It looked like the women was really struggling to walk in it. It really looked quite awkward to me. The Omni seems far more natural for walking.

Is that 2000 euros for a full system with HMD, etc? Quite a lot if it's just the walking thing.