Oh! Gizmo

By David Ponce

I tried virtual reality a while back (yeah, like in 1996). It sucked. I’ll tell you why.

Even though it was sort of cool being able to look around a virtual environment (yes, despite the subsequent neck ache you get from wearing a three ton helmet), it wasn’t as immersive as you’d like since you couldn’t actually “walk around”. All movement was done through the push of a button on your handheld control, which, obviously, isn’t quite as nice as being able to use your feet.

That might change with the VirtuSphere. It’s a large hollow sphere mounted on a special platform that allows it to rotate in any direction. You get inside, with VR helmet and gear, and start walking. In any direction. Sensors detect movement of the ball and translate it to input.

And voila! You want to go left in your virtual environment, simply walk left. Or forward. Or whatever, you get the idea.

The website was broken at publication time. Story VIA Digg.