Up and Coming

Controlling movement with a Wii Balance Board

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9 Months ago my wife and I implemented the Wii Balance board in UDK to explore it's use as an input for character movement. This is what we came up with:

This one shows the variable speed a bit better:

We stopped developing it when we reached this point because we didn't feel that further development without a HMD would be fruitful.

Sensitivity can be increased significantly but it makes it really hard to see how it's working, it also makes stopping a little bit harder.

Once we get our Rift we will get back to this, well after we port it to Unity.

**update May 2**

We've done a bit more work on this after getting our Rift and it's actually very compelling! once we get some Unity build issues sorted we will be posting a Wiiboard enabled version of the Tuscany scene for the community to try out.

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Tbone

Up and Coming

An omni balance board - someone figure out how to do this!

I also think Oculus should make wristbands for positional tracking alongside the positional tracking of the Rift.

The Furious Angels - an Oculus Rift Online Gaming Community!

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KydDynoMyte

Up and Coming

Surely someone else already posted this but I can't find it. How would this work out? Might make jumping a lot easier. Might make everything easier without falling off the board.

http://hacknmod.com/hack/sneakers-wii-balance-board-nike-wiis/

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whoisrich

Participant

Shoe sensors would certainly help with falling off the board, but the big problem is balance while being shown images that conflict with your inner ear.

At a theme park there was a big tent where they projected the view from a rollercoaster, everyone standing up would start to wobble and nearly fall over, and this effect is magnified with the Rift.

So unless the display always shows an accurate view of a persons relative ground position like in the VR Arcade, people will either need to be sitting down, or have some sort of safety restraint like waist hoop on the Virtuix Omni.

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Tbone

Up and Coming

I've found that if I stand when I'm standing in the virtual world and sit when I'm supposed to sit, I'm fine. I've never lost my balance doing things like hopping on a moving train in HL2. Especially when you are using a balance board, the worst that can happen is losing your balance a bit and stepping off the board. It's not like a treadmill where you are actually building momentum and losing your balance could sent you tumbling around.

I like the idea of a larger board instead of a smaller. So instead of having shoes where you have to stand perfectly straight to not move, you'd have a larger circular board where you could take a small step in the direction you want to go. When you want to stop, return your feet to the center/neutral. To go back, take a small step back. Etc.

The Furious Angels - an Oculus Rift Online Gaming Community!

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wildermuthn

Up and Coming

How about attaching a pole and handlebars to the balance board, like a scooter?

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KydDynoMyte

Up and Coming

"wildermuthn" wrote:
How about attaching a pole and handlebars to the balance board, like a scooter?

VRSegway?

I wonder if that Tony Hawk Ride/Shred board will connect to the PC like the Balance Board? The Xbox & Playstaion bundle versions have been on sale at Tuesday Morning B&M stores for $5 lately. I haven't been able to find the Wii version.

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wildermuthn

Up and Coming

"KydDynoMyte" wrote:
"wildermuthn" wrote:
How about attaching a pole and handlebars to the balance board, like a scooter?

VRSegway?

Exactly. Would be nice to be able to lean in any direction, even if you only moved a few inches, rather than just shifting weight on a board. Might give a good sense of movement to counter some of the naseau, too.

I remember the Amazon guy talking about how they were going to redesign cities to suit the Segway. Hilarious. But maybe a VRSegway would work, considering we don't have to spend billions redesigning our country.

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LaurentMT

Participant

"wildermuthn" wrote:
Exactly. Would be nice to be able to lean in any direction, even if you only moved a few inches, rather than just shifting weight on a board. Might give a good sense of movement to counter some of the naseau, too.

I remember the Amazon guy talking about how they were going to redesign cities to suit the Segway. Hilarious. But maybe a VRSegway would work, considering we don't have to spend billions redesigning our country.

Here it is ! The "human joystick" aka the "joyman".