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SwordArtOnline
Up and Coming
November 9, 2013

Stompz - Low intensity, cost-friendly VR movement device

Hey all,

I have created a simple, inexpensive device that allows you to remain seated while walking through your virtual environments. It uses a pair of wireless ankle bracelet sensors that convert a walk-in-place gesture to respective keyboard or gamepad inputs.

The video:


The video is not very well done (I made it for my college class as a final project assignment). I will make a more interesting video soon. Until then you may want to skip to 3:28 in the video to save yourself from my horrible speaking abilities.

I invented a device very similar to the Virtuix Omni back in 2009. I have had it in the patent process for a long time now.

I realized while developing it that there are major drawbacks to this kind of "omni-directional treadmill".
1. They are expensive.
2. They are uncomfortable and unsteady.
3. They are exhausting.
4. They assume the user is healthy with no medical issues.

I would love to hear everyone's feedback for this method of VR movement. I would love to pursue developing this but it would be a lot of work and I want to hear what all of you Oculus fanatics think beforehand.

BTW, I talked with the CEO of the Omni (Jan) and it appears our devices aren't conflicting so I should be good.

Thanks for reading!

Relevant links: http://www.google.com/patents/US20130237378
http://youtu.be/zpRQgSqCVzE

    35 replies

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    SwordArtOnlineAuthor
    Up and Coming
    June 22, 2014
    Thanks guys, I appreciate the support!

    Here's a video of the new device.



    This is Stompz using the basic walking movement as inputs. That's it's primary function, but it's an old trick now. This controller has a ton of new tricks up it's sleeve. I hope to post videos regularly (without spamming) of some of the interesting ways this new Stompz can be used.

    SpaceMidget- I'm sure some sort of Kinect-like solution will come out eventually and make full body mocap THE standard. Until it does I hope these wearable controllers can give us the immersion we want so bad!
    cybereality
    Inspiring
    June 26, 2014
    That looks like it works very well.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    SwordArtOnlineAuthor
    Up and Coming
    June 26, 2014
    Thanks CR.

    I've put a lot of work into it, but I think it's where I want it to be. Walking/running is only one trick. Now it's got tilt sensors in it too so it can do much more.


    OculusRiftRocks
    Up and Coming
    January 31, 2015
    Has there been any update on the device, surely a Kickstarter will happen soon?
    konstantinloze
    Up and Coming
    February 1, 2015
    I think this can actually be used for 360 degree gaming quite well, but you need a Freetrack camera on the ceiling. The HMD will determine your yaw, i.e. you reference frame, the Freetrack cam will determine your WASD position in that reference frame and the IMUs on your ankles will trigger the button pressing. I think we have a winner :). I will try a similar setup next weekend with a wiimote strapped to my hip.
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