Head-mounted devices, which
display three dimensional images according one’s viewing direction, allowing
the users to lose themselves in computer generated worlds are already
commercially available. However, it has not yet been possible to walk through these
virtual realities, without at some point running into the very real walls of
the room. A team of researchers at the Vienna University of Technology has now
built a ‘Virtualizer’, which allows for an almost natural walk through virtual
spaces. The user is fixated with a belt in a support frame, the feet glide
across a low friction surface. Sensors pick up these movements and feed the
data into the computer. The team hopes that the Virtualizer will enter the
market in 2014. Various ideas have been put forward on the digitalization of
human motion. Markers can be attached to the body, which are then tracked with
cameras – this is how motion capture for animated movies is achieved. For this,
however, expensive equipment is needed, and the user is confined to a
relatively small space.
Prototypes using conveyor belts
have not yet yielded satisfactory results. In the Virtualizer’s metal frame,
the user is kept in place with a belt. The smooth floor plate contains sensors,
picking up every step. Rotations of the body are registered by the belt. The
Virtualizer can be used with standard 3D headgear, which picks up the users
viewing direction and displays 3D pictures accordingly. This is independent
from the leg motion, therefore running into one direction and looking into
another becomes possible. Moving through virtual realities using a keyboard or
a joystick can lead to a discrepancy between visual perception and other body
sensations. The prototype developed at TU Vienna already works very well – only
some minor adjustments are still to be made. The Virtualizer has already caused
some a stir. The Virtualizer is scheduled to enter the market as soon as 2014.
The price cannot be determined yet. The product should lead virtual reality out
of the research labs and into the gamers’ living rooms.
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