Omnidirectional VR Treadmill - Computerphile

**Revolutionizing Virtual Reality: The OmniDeck Technology**

The games industry has been at the forefront of technological innovation, and one company that's particularly interested in exploring commercial applications of this technology is Oculus. Specifically, their focus has been on developing a device called the OmniDeck, which allows users to move freely through large virtual environments. This technology has far-reaching implications for fields such as transportation, where it can be used to simulate real-world scenarios and train individuals in new ways.

The OmniDeck uses a combination of VR headsets and special sensors to track the user's movements. The headset itself is equipped with haptic feedback, allowing users to feel tactile sensations while interacting with virtual objects. This technology also enables free movement within the virtual environment, eliminating the need for traditional controllers or other physical interfaces. For example, in a demo presentation, the author was able to walk around and interact with virtual environments, such as a replica of Milton Keynes in a VR setting.

One of the most significant applications of this technology is in the field of transportation, where it can be used to simulate real-world scenarios and train individuals in new ways. The current state of autonomous vehicles poses a significant challenge for public safety, as large robotic vehicles on pavements can be hazardous and require specialized training to operate safely. However, with the OmniDeck technology, it's possible to create simulated environments that allow users to practice navigating around these vehicles without putting themselves or others at risk.

The OmniDeck is also capable of simulating a wide range of scenarios, from simple interactions between individuals to more complex situations such as autonomous vehicles interacting with pedestrians. The device can apply different types of interfaces, including visual and auditory cues, to simulate real-world behavior and encourage users to behave naturally in the virtual environment. This approach has been shown to be highly effective in training individuals for roles that require high levels of situational awareness and reaction time.

The technology behind the OmniDeck is continually evolving, with new features being added to improve performance and usability. For example, the device can now track the user's movements more accurately, allowing for smoother and more natural interactions within the virtual environment. The OmniDeck also includes a range of safety features, such as chaperone boundaries that prevent users from falling off the edge of the device.

The potential applications of the OmniDeck technology extend far beyond the field of transportation, however. The company behind this technology is exploring new opportunities in areas such as gaming and simulation training. In fact, Oculus has already begun to develop VR arcades that can accommodate large teams of users, creating immersive and interactive experiences that simulate a wide range of scenarios. These arcades have the potential to revolutionize the way we experience virtual reality, offering a new level of social interaction and collaboration that's not currently possible with traditional VR systems.

In addition to its potential applications in gaming and simulation training, the OmniDeck technology also has significant implications for fields such as military training and special operations. The device can be used to simulate complex scenarios and train individuals for roles that require high levels of situational awareness and reaction time. This approach has already shown promise in reducing the risk of injury or death during training exercises, while also improving overall performance and effectiveness.

As the technology behind the OmniDeck continues to evolve, it's clear that this device has the potential to revolutionize the way we experience virtual reality. With its ability to simulate real-world scenarios and train individuals in new ways, the OmniDeck is poised to have a significant impact on fields such as transportation and gaming. Whether you're a gamer looking for a new level of immersion or a professional seeking to improve your skills through simulation training, the OmniDeck technology is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

**Future Developments and Applications**

One of the most exciting developments in the OmniDeck technology is its potential applications in areas such as education and training. The device has already been used to simulate real-world scenarios for fields such as healthcare and emergency response, allowing individuals to practice and develop their skills in a safe and controlled environment. As the technology continues to evolve, it's likely that we'll see even more innovative uses of the OmniDeck, from medical simulation training to disaster response exercises.

The company behind the OmniDeck is also exploring new opportunities in areas such as healthcare and wellness. For example, they're developing VR systems that can be used to treat mental health conditions such as anxiety and PTSD. These systems use a combination of virtual reality and real-world interactions to help individuals manage their symptoms and improve their overall well-being.

In addition to its potential applications in education and training, the OmniDeck technology also has significant implications for fields such as art and design. The device can be used to create highly immersive and interactive experiences that simulate real-world environments, allowing artists and designers to experiment with new forms of creative expression. For example, Oculus has already developed VR systems that allow users to explore and interact with virtual environments in a way that's similar to how they would experience them in real life.

The OmniDeck technology is also being used in the gaming industry, where it's being explored as a new type of game platform. The device can be used to create highly immersive and interactive experiences that simulate real-world environments, allowing players to explore and interact with virtual worlds in a way that's similar to how they would experience them in real life.

As the technology behind the OmniDeck continues to evolve, it's clear that this device has the potential to revolutionize the way we experience virtual reality. Whether you're a gamer looking for a new level of immersion or a professional seeking to improve your skills through simulation training, the OmniDeck is definitely worth keeping an eye on. With its ability to simulate real-world scenarios and train individuals in new ways, this technology has the potential to make a significant impact on fields such as transportation, gaming, and education.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso this is an omnidirectional treadmill so this is the only one that's chimeric commercially available in the UK you're not Europe and it's built by a company called Omni affinity based in Sweden and they've been developing this for the last ten years for the Special Forces well they want to take infantryman have been trained bring them to to the various divisions and then get them experiencing different types of scenarios and this this allows them to freely move through that space and they can run a number of configurations and and scenarios them to test out their tactics and kind of stuff we're looking at kind of commercial technology coming from the games industry particular interests with the homely deck which was not really in most people's budgets but what it allows you to do is move freely through freely through large virtual environments and we're interested in allowing people to experience transport-related scenarios so it can be very large places like airports and train stations and allow people to navigate through that and understand what the future might look like essentially what we have a survive you might want to step off the on theater role as though because they allows you're walking with me so we have to vibe sensors which track the headset that's connected to the omni finishes software which interprets that and allows your character to move around unity giving you free movement to walk around so for example we walk in this direction the rollers here are powered individually so as you walk forwards they get faster so the idea is that you can then transition through an environment without having to worry about a controller you can move freely and walk up to objects and as you get more and more experienced you can really move around at pace so here we're actually walking into the trees we can change direction and walk in this direction over here for example and the kind of thing within this particular demo I've been looking at is we're actually in Milton Keynes well there we are me in Milton Keynes this is in virtual Milton Keynes and we replicated this to allow us to start investigating some of the interactions between autonomous vehicles and people so clearly having large robotic vehicles driving around on pavements can be hazardous and has various paperwork associated with it not every day is sunny as in in virtual reality and we can then train people to work to walk on the Omni deck and just walk from here to the train station in VR encountering these autonomous vehicles and on those vehicles we can start to change their behavior we can apply different types of interfaces so the whole thing could blow pink it could project a big red dot on the ground or have various means of communicating via audio and behavioural changes so similar to you and I walking down a pavement you will see somebody in front and if they're distracted you might give way and move around them if you're if they are looking very not very confident they might decide to change direction and so on so look at all those subtleties of interaction and what's the minimum we need to implement onto autonomous cars to give the likes of the public you and i confidence that they have seen me they will stop they will react and behave in a natural natural fashion so we can do all this in virtual reality which is a huge cost saving and because this is a simulated environment we can implement everyone to in any way control all those factors which is very hard to do if you're doing user trials in Henery in the real world we've had three four hundred people come through the lab this is actually the upgraded version of the deck we had previously now the gap is minimal there's no chances of shoes catching the edges completely natural is faster and so on so we've gotten really good positive interactions people was jumping on with five minutes they're naturally walking around we map out a chaperone boundary which vive and oculus people be familiar with so as you get towards the edge of the omni deck you can see that and we can increase the speed of the deck so if you're particularly confident if a large stride we can increase that speed so you never reach the edge we're not doing the kind of things the military were doing where you can run jump and crawl some of the videos on the omni affinity and website will show that and it is capable of that but somewhat outside of our area of research so we got some some virtual circles here well starter to accelerate and rate of rotate the rollers so if I walk forward to be able to see the role as a moving on my feet I know what people will be thinking you're watching this there'll be people out there thinking things like this so yeah so we've talked Omni affinity about applications of interest to our our particular area of transport but they are branching out from servicing and military and Special Forces into VR arcades so they're exploring different opportunities to create large warehouses full of these omni decks so that there can be teams either playing each other in those waiting those in those facilities or playing international teams distributed around the globe so yeah it's an obvious kind of follow-on because they've been doing simulations with ground forces with tanks with helicopters etc so they're using that same technology and now bringing it to the gaming industry what I encourage you now to shift your head a bit left and right because then you get something this is what you would not get with the traditional defecate one you will get it done with the next version of the rift your computer will capture the first model field and it will capture the second even field and it will start to interlace them back together to create a single frameso this is an omnidirectional treadmill so this is the only one that's chimeric commercially available in the UK you're not Europe and it's built by a company called Omni affinity based in Sweden and they've been developing this for the last ten years for the Special Forces well they want to take infantryman have been trained bring them to to the various divisions and then get them experiencing different types of scenarios and this this allows them to freely move through that space and they can run a number of configurations and and scenarios them to test out their tactics and kind of stuff we're looking at kind of commercial technology coming from the games industry particular interests with the homely deck which was not really in most people's budgets but what it allows you to do is move freely through freely through large virtual environments and we're interested in allowing people to experience transport-related scenarios so it can be very large places like airports and train stations and allow people to navigate through that and understand what the future might look like essentially what we have a survive you might want to step off the on theater role as though because they allows you're walking with me so we have to vibe sensors which track the headset that's connected to the omni finishes software which interprets that and allows your character to move around unity giving you free movement to walk around so for example we walk in this direction the rollers here are powered individually so as you walk forwards they get faster so the idea is that you can then transition through an environment without having to worry about a controller you can move freely and walk up to objects and as you get more and more experienced you can really move around at pace so here we're actually walking into the trees we can change direction and walk in this direction over here for example and the kind of thing within this particular demo I've been looking at is we're actually in Milton Keynes well there we are me in Milton Keynes this is in virtual Milton Keynes and we replicated this to allow us to start investigating some of the interactions between autonomous vehicles and people so clearly having large robotic vehicles driving around on pavements can be hazardous and has various paperwork associated with it not every day is sunny as in in virtual reality and we can then train people to work to walk on the Omni deck and just walk from here to the train station in VR encountering these autonomous vehicles and on those vehicles we can start to change their behavior we can apply different types of interfaces so the whole thing could blow pink it could project a big red dot on the ground or have various means of communicating via audio and behavioural changes so similar to you and I walking down a pavement you will see somebody in front and if they're distracted you might give way and move around them if you're if they are looking very not very confident they might decide to change direction and so on so look at all those subtleties of interaction and what's the minimum we need to implement onto autonomous cars to give the likes of the public you and i confidence that they have seen me they will stop they will react and behave in a natural natural fashion so we can do all this in virtual reality which is a huge cost saving and because this is a simulated environment we can implement everyone to in any way control all those factors which is very hard to do if you're doing user trials in Henery in the real world we've had three four hundred people come through the lab this is actually the upgraded version of the deck we had previously now the gap is minimal there's no chances of shoes catching the edges completely natural is faster and so on so we've gotten really good positive interactions people was jumping on with five minutes they're naturally walking around we map out a chaperone boundary which vive and oculus people be familiar with so as you get towards the edge of the omni deck you can see that and we can increase the speed of the deck so if you're particularly confident if a large stride we can increase that speed so you never reach the edge we're not doing the kind of things the military were doing where you can run jump and crawl some of the videos on the omni affinity and website will show that and it is capable of that but somewhat outside of our area of research so we got some some virtual circles here well starter to accelerate and rate of rotate the rollers so if I walk forward to be able to see the role as a moving on my feet I know what people will be thinking you're watching this there'll be people out there thinking things like this so yeah so we've talked Omni affinity about applications of interest to our our particular area of transport but they are branching out from servicing and military and Special Forces into VR arcades so they're exploring different opportunities to create large warehouses full of these omni decks so that there can be teams either playing each other in those waiting those in those facilities or playing international teams distributed around the globe so yeah it's an obvious kind of follow-on because they've been doing simulations with ground forces with tanks with helicopters etc so they're using that same technology and now bringing it to the gaming industry what I encourage you now to shift your head a bit left and right because then you get something this is what you would not get with the traditional defecate one you will get it done with the next version of the rift your computer will capture the first model field and it will capture the second even field and it will start to interlace them back together to create a single frame\n"