I read that when they tried this method many years ago, the problem was that the flexible membrane (deflated ball) tended to pucker in the middle under your feet and/or the edges were stretched too tight causing binding. The "synthetic prototype" models look fine and dandy in the computer animated videos, but try finding a spherical membrane that can lay flat under your feet with sufficient stretch to not pucker and trip you up... Even small linear treadmills with much larger motors and a belt with far less distortion have "stiction" problems where they stall/stretch/jerk sometimes while walking on them (especially problematic with smaller treadmills). Lubrication can help somewhat. Can you imagine the maintenance headache with a deflated ball membrane? How do you get inside the ball to lubricate it (or redistribute existing lubricant)?colocolo wrote:yeah sure he wasnt the only one who had this idea.
http://www.patentbuddy.com/Patent/6743154
it would be really interesting to see if it in real life would actually work as he mentioned at the end of the video that its not sci-fi...
it was really surprising to see the almost exact logo that the Virtuix Omni has
you are right, it should be very tricky to find that kind of material.geekmaster wrote:I read that when they tried this method many years ago, the problem was that the flexible membrane (deflated ball) tended to pucker in the middle under your feet and/or the edges were stretched too tight causing binding. The "synthetic prototype" models look fine and dandy in the computer animated videos, but try finding a spherical membrane that can lay flat under your feet with sufficient stretch to not pucker and trip you up... Even small linear treadmills with much larger motors and a belt with far less distortion have "stiction" problems where they stall/stretch/jerk sometimes while walking on them (especially problematic with smaller treadmills). Lubrication can help somewhat. Can you imagine the maintenance headache with a deflated ball membrane? How do you get inside the ball to lubricate it (or redistribute existing lubricant)?colocolo wrote:yeah sure he wasnt the only one who had this idea.
http://www.patentbuddy.com/Patent/6743154
it would be really interesting to see if it in real life would actually work as he mentioned at the end of the video that its not sci-fi...
it was really surprising to see the almost exact logo that the Virtuix Omni has
Patents are a joke without a working prototype to go with them... Especially when they patent prior art or public domain information...
cybereality wrote:Interesting, but I feel like the motorized designs may be too expensive or bulky for most enthusiasts.
The passive design of the Omni does look attractive, though I have never used it so maybe it's not as good as I hope.
Complex mechanical designs may have a market in the VR arcade or theme-park setting.
I know there are guys that spend $10K+ on motorized seats for racing sims, but I doubt most people here could stomach that.
the omnipad though looks like it woud be very expensive to produce.
it sounds like they have sth very special.
,man that could be a funny game just by itself. 
But how do you hang your clothes on the Infinideck when you aren't using it?emsman wrote:I have another thought on the Infinadeck. How many own a typical treadmill? How many use it as a clothes hanger?
One concept with the Infinadeck is that it has the potential for two uses. One would be fitness (which would replace your current treadmill) and the other gaming. For the fitness part, you would be immersed in a virtual reality where you could walk or jog anywhere you would please (real or otherwise). Or, it could be also adapted to exergaming, e.g. the Wii Fit. There is a ton of research out there supporting using games for exercise.
