Virtual reality startup Virtues is building a VR treadmill for your home. Om Mini One is an extended full-body controller that allows you to physically move, jump and crouch in position. Following previous business- and arcade-centric devices, it is expected to ship to 1,995 dollars for mid-2021, and Virtuix is announcing the product with a crowdfunding investment campaign.
Crowdfunded Virtues Om Money began development in 2013. It’s not a traditional treadmill – it’s a low-friction platform used with special low-friction shows or shoe covers and harnesses. (You may recall Steven Spielberg’s overall VR treadmill concept Ready Player One.) As the Om Mini One prototype video shows, when your foot slides over the platform, the device basically holds you in place, and those movements translate into a VR environment. We’ve tried Om Money’s previous iterations, and it’s a weird yet interesting experience.
The Om Mini One is more compact than its predecessor, allowing users to wrap a vert instead of a ring around the entire treadmill. You can even fold it and put it away. It will play games from a dedicated store that is set to launch with 30 titles. Virtux doesn’t have a complete list, but it also plans to develop itself with experiences with third-party games, including a later series including similar games. Fornite And Call on duty.
Retail Omni One will be a standalone system that is a standalone headset – being tested with its Pico Neo 2, but Vertux will decide which headset to use for retail in the coming months. The $ 995 developer kit will only offer a treadmill portion. For users who want the full package, Virtux is opening a regulation fundraising campaign that allows companies to sell shares through a crowdfunding-style process. Fans of the concept should invest at least $ 1000, and in return, they will get a 20 percent discount on customer Omni One, or a 40 percent discount if they invest in the first week.
Virtuos does not describe these investments as “precursors”. VR crowdfunding campaigns can be a high risk proposition, as markets and technology can change rapidly as companies create a product. Virtux delivered its promises better than some VR startups, but Omni’s purpose evolved over time. It was conceived as a home gaming system that would send it all over the world, but as the device got bigger and more complex the Vertuks were forced to cancel some predecessors. VRT discontinued customer treadmill offer to focus on Arcade. Now, the location-based VR has been devastated by the coronavirus epidemic, although Vertux says it is resuming installations for commercial customers.
The release date of Omni One was moved amid a surge of epidemic-driven enthusiasm for high-end home fitness tech. The description of the Virtux Treadmill is like a peloton bike for gamers and sells it in the same price range – while fitness is not the primary focus, you will definitely go a long way in this regard. If the Omni One finds a niche (which is clearly far from certain), Virtues will eventually come into full circle by building home VR treadmills.
