Could an "Intelligent Carpet" Be the Future of Walking in VR Games?

Researchers unveil a new VR locomotion system. Could an "Intelligent Carpet" be the future of walking in VR games?

[Christopher]

More often than not this type of thing leads to repetitive motion disorder issues. Hands get it too, but they are also less prone to the effect because of size and movement compared to legs, knees, and hips. It's also much easier to do hand exercises to relieve strain from repetitive motion issues than other parts of the body.

What's that? Why, yes, I am over 40 and think about this stuff a lot now. How did you know?

[kevco33]

As a gamer also past the 40 mark, I personally think that anything that encourages me to move a bit more is a good idea!

[EvertonFC]

I guess like anything in life in moderation, unfortunately that never happens 🤣😂

[Christopher]

I mean, as long as you do it in small periods of time and you actually exercise outside of that?

[EvertonFC]

I get pain in my ageing 47 year old hands using a wheel setup for GT, can ONLY do about 5 laps and my hands hurt to much so unfortunately my wheel setup years are behind me which is annoying cause I was good 😔

[gerbintosh]

Another way to break our hips. Stop trying to kill us!

[Mr_cheese]

I'm still waiting for them to mainstream release some gloves in stead of the controller.

I'd personally start here over a bigger product aimed at getting me walking

[kevco33]

I'm pretty 'meh' on gloves. Have tried a lot of them and very few do finger tracking better than the Quest 2 controllers. The ones that do add a tonne of weight and are quite uncomfortable.

[CosmicTurtle]

There is an efficiency to buttons unless you always want to move into an imaginary back pack for items or menus, pinch your fingers for things you want to click in a menu, it will end up being functionally more complex than using buttons anyway . Having something you do not have to hold all the time is already the solution this gives hand tracking but lets you use buttons and sticks when needed, it will improve with time but you want both really.

Also using hands only does not help with movement at all. There is presently a use to having a stick and buttons for navigating in a space. Maybe there is a better solution you have and I would be interested to hear it. But right now it ignores how VR works in most cases.

[IanTH]

Maybe for a VR arcade kind of set up, or for the very hardest of core VR users - of which I at least once was - but there's little chance anything like this makes any headway. Adding an extra step to anything is one further barrier to usage, and data shows that it is hard enough to get people who own HMDs to even put them on somewhat regularly.

[Viljong]

I dont believe walking in VR games it is unrealistic to think of. Too much exercise and sweating. Basicly you need to keep walking the entire time you play. Even running. Maybe for some fitness games.

[CosmicTurtle]

This is the barrier to VR there is a real problem with movement i don’t see an easy solution without very elaborate hardware. Walking on the spot feels unnatural.