The Max Planck Institute, along with other german and italian institutions, is running a program called Cyberwalk which was first demonstrated in April 2007.
Their flyer explains it all :
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8eVcN2z3k[/youtube]The Goal
Un-constrained, quasi-natural omni-directional walking in virtual worlds
The ApproachThe CyberWalk project follows a holistic approach covering science, technology and application by integrating the necessary blend of cognitive understanding with high fidelity technological development, to end up with a fully immersive showcase.
The site also has a lot of technical information.
Last but not least, it seems David Carmein, who makes the Omni-Directionnal Treadmill is directly involved in the project [Update: he is not, see comments..]
Cb, I wish that it were so. Cyberwalk did indeed copy my (patented) design without my knowledge or approval. But as long as they don’t sell any, I wish them great success. DC
Oh ok.. As I saw your name on the website here (http://www.cyberwalk-project.org/index.php?action=showcat&id=68) I assumed you were part of the project…