Just when I said nothing interesting was happening it seems lots of things are spawning !
From NewLaunches :
University of Tsukuba Japan has developed a dome shaped virtual reality walking system for patients patients suffering from a stroke etc. The VR treadmill can accommodate a 80kg person for a walking speed 1m/sec with strides of 80 cms. The dome has a viewing angle of 270 degrees horizontally and a 60 degrees vertically. The system is not fully developed and is very expensive for hospitals to install.Â
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmCF7CZL0Ho[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka6nwgWt978[/youtube]
I’m not sure why a simple treadmill is not enough.
And is this curved screen cheaper and/or more suitable (including development of hard&soft) than a Sensics HMD or a Crescent HMD or a Fakespace Wide5 HMD (of which I haven’t talked yet but it really rocks!) ?
There must be good reasons, please tell me =)
I believe the great improvement of this over a threadmill is the ability to simulate steps and other kinds of uneven terrain. And with proper haptics, even granularity can be somewhat simulated, I guess. I’m very excited about this.
As for the display, indeed a HMD would be mre appropriate, I think. Less expensive and more immersive.
Stroke patients need some level of support. They can not do 100% of the work when they start. The support is decreased as they progressed in rehabilitation.
With the treadmill solutions, they need to be supported via hanging from waist with counter weights.
Hi Sébastien,
I was wondering what you thought of the fakespace wide5 (rocks sounds good!), and whether you could make a small post about your experience with it? Not much on the internet about it.
Hi Alex,
I’d love to do a review on the Wide5 but I don’t know if they’re selling it at the moment. I’ve just asked them so let’s wait.
I could test it for just a few minutes but I have to say it was my best experience with an HMD. Good resolution at the center, low resolution around the center but wide FOV !