I've looked at motion platforms in the past in connection with multiple monitor/projector displays, and the good ones run to $100K plus with 6DOF, skew etc.
It occurs to me that although FPS players will use the frictionless treadmill, racers and flight sim players will need a chair manipulator of some kind.
In the same way that Oculus has democratised head mounted VR, someone needs to do the same for domestic scale motion platforms.
Physical motion feedback will go a long way to ameliorate motion sickness in users if their mental motion sensations are matched by actual physical sensations.
I worked with them years ago through another company on a modded version of the 301 model. When I was out at their shop I tried both the 301 and 401, the added rotations on the 401 platform are amazing.
That GS4 is an interesting approach to a seat as well, I'd be interested in giving that a go and see how it feels.
"fudspong" wrote: I've looked at motion platforms in the past in connection with multiple monitor/projector displays, and the good ones run to $100K plus with 6DOF, skew etc.
It occurs to me that although FPS players will use the frictionless treadmill, racers and flight sim players will need a chair manipulator of some kind.
In the same way that Oculus has democratised head mounted VR, someone needs to do the same for domestic scale motion platforms.
Physical motion feedback will go a long way to ameliorate motion sickness in users if their mental motion sensations are matched by actual physical sensations.
I also want a simple motorized office chair, with integrated wireless (and/or slip-ring) Rift connections, that rotates to match the in-game orientation, with foot-rests and perhaps foot-pedal game controllers. Great for "cockpit" based (aircraft/automobile/boat/submarine) games. No more unnecessary "Vestibulo-Ocular Dissonance" motion sickness.
I don`t quite get these Virtuix Omni, chairs and stuff. What if you`re playing GTA? You enter a car in the game, you have to detach yourself from the Omni, walk blindly to your VR-Chair and engage "driver mode"?
It may be a silly example but it does make you wonder just how far can you go into simulating a trully immersive Virtual Reality with make-believe accessories.
"edulinares" wrote: I don`t quite get these Virtuix Omni, chairs and stuff. What if you`re playing GTA? You enter a car in the game, you have to detach yourself from the Omni, walk blindly to your VR-Chair and engage "driver mode"?
It may be a silly example but it does make you wonder just how far can you go into simulating a trully immersive Virtual Reality with make-believe accessories.
In the short term (next few years) this will be the a limitation of VR experiences. So you might not use an Omni in GTA, or you might not make a GTA style game.
Sometime in the future I think Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (a device that affects your inner ear) will eventually supersede motion platforms and let VR gamers sit on their sofa again; http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=15403
But that feels like it's a long way off right now.
If connecting GVS to a computer, be sure to use only battery power, and to user wireless or opto-isolated connections to the computer. No need to send lethal voltages into your body in the event of a hardware failure. Always use battery power for devices that have electrodes.
I think the first step towards chair based motion platform is the wireless operation of oculus rift and controllers etc. We are preparing a product for this purpose. Check the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XncqRfSwwX8
"RXReality" wrote: I think the first step towards chair based motion platform is the wireless operation of oculus rift and controllers etc. We are preparing a product for this purpose. Check the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XncqRfSwwX8
Why would you need wireless if you're sitting on a chair? I mean it would be nice, but totally not needed. If you were walking around wireless would be useful, but not when you're sitting on a chair platform that would at most move half a metre (and not spin around endlessly like on that video).
A simple device that attaches to practically any office style chair is the go... it just swivels the chair left & right. keep it simple. Such a device could be created using Uniduino ( Arduino connecting for Unity ) All you really need to do is attach a simple gear ring to the chair's base pole & have a motor turn it left /right... yes ? there's no major amount of torque happening as most of the weight is centralized over the pivot.
But the key here is KEEP It SIMPLE. adding foot pedals etc... could come later...
I've done some research on this topic recently and came to a conclusion that muscle force simulation chairs give better feel than full motion simulation chairs, although giving zero G-force feedback (which is still very little even for high-end motion simulation rigs anyway). Combining such muscle force simulation chairs with GVS or similar G-force simulation devices seems to be an optimal solution.
