Three Ways to “Walk” in Virtual Reality (and Why They’re All Bad)
A recent trip to an augmented reality expo got me thinking about a big problem with VR: Unless you have an empty warehouse, your VR gaming experience is limited by the simple fact that you can’t walk very far. Exploring huge spaces and being transported all the way is essentially the point of many video games and VR experiences, and you can’t achieve full immersion if you’re worried about crashing into your coffee table.
But if you’re ready to take your VR setup to the next level, there are ways to get something closer to real-life movement in virtual worlds. None of them are perfect, but some are decent. Some are surprisingly affordable, while others are just ridiculously expensive. From omnidirectional treadmills to motorized boots, here are a few solutions for walking in VR.
Omnidirectional Treadmills
Virtual reality with a treadmill moving in all directions sounds like something out of science fiction, but it’s now available commercially, but only if you have a deep wallet.
The device above is the Infinadeck , a multi-directional treadmill that lets you move in any direction and reacts to the speed of your feet. It looks like a VR motion solution , but it has a major drawback: cost. The Infinadeck is aimed at businesses and institutions, and it’s priced accordingly. I can’t find an exact figure on the Infinadeck website, but an older version of the site listed a price between $40,000 and $60,000. Oops. You can contact the company if you’re interested. There’s a similar, larger treadmill called the Omnifinity , but I can’t find any pricing information for that either. So until these treadmill solutions get cheaper, here are some (semi)affordable consumer options.
VR Friction-light Motion Platforms
Pictured above is the Omni One from Virtuix, a VR device that takes a decidedly lower-tech approach to the problem of VR movement. It’s essentially a very slippery concave surface with harnesses to keep you upright and sensors to detect your foot’s movement. You take a step forward, and your foot slides back underneath you. The complete system, including the treadmill, a standalone VR headset, and all the necessary controllers, costs $3,495. Another friction-based option is the KAT Walk C2 CORE VR Treadmill . The concept is similar, but the KAT Walk is an inclined platform rather than a bowl-shaped one. It’s also more affordable at $999.
Footwear-based virtual reality motion solutions
Maybe the answer isn’t to provide a floor that moves, or a surface to slide on. Maybe the answer is to add tiny treadmills to the soles of shoes so you can “walk” without walking. That’s the concept behind the Freeaim VR shoe : You take a step, and your feet are guided back underneath you without your knowledge. To avoid breaking your hips, you’ll need a harness and a kickstand, unless you’re very brave. They have a projected retail price of $1,100, but they’re not available for sale yet.
Speaking of not-on-the-market, remember the hilariously named Cyber Shoes? These inexpensive shoe-based VR devices allowed you to simulate sitting down while walking. For some reason—probably because “sitting down while walking” isn’t something anyone wants—they didn’t catch on. They’re no longer for sale.
Maybe there is no solution?
The death of Cyber Shoes and the low adoption rate of VR motion systems may be evidence that the technology doesn’t exist yet, the demand doesn’t exist yet, the prices are too high, or a combination of all three. But it may also be evidence that we’re just not built for walking in VR.
I tried the Virtuix slippery platform for a short time, but the instinctive fear of falling prevented me from getting deeper. People who have tested more expensive omnidirectional treadmills say that while they are cool, walking doesn’t really feel like walking . The sensation of walking is hardwired into us, and “hold on and step on this very slippery floor” or “these shoes will trip you up” is not the same. Maybe there will be a technical solution in the future, but maybe we’re looking in the wrong places.
Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality Experience
For a true “walking in cyberspace” experience, virtual reality may not be the right medium. Augmented and mixed reality experiences, which overlay virtual elements on the real world, allow you to walk as much as you want without a $50,000 treadmill or a harness holding you up.
I don’t know of any augmented reality games that offer the expansiveness of “traditional” video games, but we’re getting there. Games like Drop Dead: The Cabin , a VR zombie-killing game for Meta Quest, are pointing the way. Drop Dead includes a mixed reality mode that lets you scan the room you’re in, and the game replaces some real-life elements with virtual ones, so that the view from your window is another world, and your side table looks like a gun rack. Then the zombies break in. Watch the trailer:
While Drop Dead: The Cabin’s Home Invasion mode is a fairly limited experience that’s a bit difficult to set up, in the future, as the technology becomes available, I expect to see games that change the appearance of the real world into Middle-earth or a distant planet in real time, allowing VR players to simply walk around on their own two feet. Until then, we may have to get used to moving furniture, walking in place, and trying not to break a lamp.