Virtuix Omni

Virtuix Omni
Company Virtuix
URL Official site

Virtuix Omni is an omnidirectional treadmill video game peripheral for virtual reality games currently in development by Virtuix. It was featured on "Shark Tank".

The Omni uses a slippery platform used to simulate the motion of walking.[1] The platform requires special shoes that reduce friction.[1] The player is fully enclosed within a ring that works as a safety harness to absorb the player's weight.[1] It was originally scheduled for release in January 2014,[2] but is now tentatively scheduled for June 2015.[3]

Description

The omnidirectional treadmill works as a game controller to let gamers walk within game environments.[4] The Omni has a "bowl-shaped, low-friction surface" and works with special shoes.[4]

The Omni is designed to be used with a head-mounted virtual reality display, such as the Oculus Rift.[4]

History

Virtuix was founded by Jan Goetgeluk.[5] The Virtuix Omni team spent two years developing the product before bringing it to Kickstarter for crowdfunding its manufacture.[5] The company also sought to give every virtual reality gaming enthusiast the opportunity to use the Omni with haste.[5] The team experimented with the Oculus Rift in conjunction with the Omni in games such as Team Fortress 2.[5]

The Virtuix Omni launched its Kickstarter page on June 4, 2013. Its kickstarter page was successful, overshot the amounts that they had predicted it to reach.[2] Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey promised a product endorsement in advance.[4] It reached its set fundraising goal of $150,000 almost immediately.[2] The company has said that the Kickstarter prices will be "significantly" lower than the retail price.[5] The crowdsourced money is planned to be spent on converting the Omni prototype into a mass consumer product.[2]

Omni production was set to begin in December 2013.[2] The tentative shipping date for early units was January 2014,[2] but was delayed several months.[6] Virtuix planned to publicly ship the Omni in early 2014.[1] As of April 2014, the final version had not been released, though Virtuix announced that they had sold 3,000 Omnis.[7] The Omni was expected for release to its Kickstarter backers in Q4 2014, and other customers thereafter.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Miller, Paul (June 11, 2013). "Testing the Virtuix Omni: a walk on the virtual side". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Mallory, Jordan (June 4, 2013). "Virtuix Omni VR treadmill Kickstarter goes live, fully funded almost immediately". Joystiq. AOL Tech. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Products". Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Tweedie, Steven (June 3, 2013). "This Virtual Reality Treadmill Could Be The 'Holy Grail' Of Video Game Controllers". Business Insider. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Phillips, Tom (June 4, 2013). "Virtual reality omnidirectional treadmill funded on Kickstarter in a matter of hours". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Omni: Production and Shipping, Tracking and SDK, Events". November 3, 2013. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  7. ↑ Kuchera, Ben (March 21, 2014). "The evolution of the virtual soldier: Hands-on with the latest version of the Virtuix Omni". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Virtuix Omni. Archived from the original on August 22, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virtuix Omni.