Virtuix Omni Product Test

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 The <a href="http://www.virtuix.com/">Virtuix Omni</a> is a virtual reality <keyword id="6357332" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gaming">gaming</keyword> platform that lets you walk, run, and move around like you're actually in the game.
It's hands down the most immersive gaming experience we've seen so far. The simulator is currently available to <a href="http://shop.virtuix.com/Default.asp">pre-order at $499</a>. 
Just strap yourself into the <keyword id="1799704" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="virtuix-omni">Virtuix Omni</keyword> platform, put on the <keyword id="1620564" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Oculus-Rift">Oculus Rift</keyword> headset, and get ready to run. You have to physically move your body to advance in whatever game you're playing.
So, with the help of CEO Jan Goetgeluk and his Virtuix Omni team, we headed over to the Engadget Expand conference to experience first-hand how this platform works.
Produced by William Wei &amp; Justin Gmoser

Forget The Playstation 4 And XBox One, This Device Actually Lets You Run Around Inside Video Games

How do you move in virtual reality?
When you're wearing the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, your natural instinct is to walk or run around as you explore the simulated environment that surrounds you.
The Virtuix Omni is a virtual reality treadmill that's designed to solve this problem, and I got to try it at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The booth was located right next to the Oculus VR booth, and it's hard to say which booth drew more people. Crowds would stop to take pictures and videos of the futuristic spectacle of the Virtuix Omni in use, captivated by the testers running in place on the treadmill, waving a plastic gun around with an Oculus Rift strapped to their face.
<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac7de0eab8ea784fcf6c1f-1200-924/virtuix-omni-1.png" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni">Business Insider</img>
The Virtuix Omni has been around for a little while now, raising over $1,000,000 in a Kickstarter campaign last July. Virtuix then went on to raise $2.7 million in funding just a month ago.
I got to try the very latest and final design of the Virtuix Omni, which is available now for pre-order for $499 (the price is going to go up when it launches).
Strapping into the Omni is a bit of chore. You have to wear special low-friction shoes that allow you to run in place, with your feet sliding and gliding along the bowl-like surface of the Omni treadmill.
<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac7f3becad04a4536e9a3e-1200-600/virtuix-omni-4.png" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni">Business Insider</img>
<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac7f796da811306259827c-1200-924/virtuix-omni-5.png" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni">Business Insider</img>
Attached to each foot is an Omni sensor, which is "where the magic happens" according to a Virtuix booth attendant. These sensors track how fast you're walking and running so your in-game avatar moves at a similar pace.
<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac7fa969beddee090a7cf2-1200-924/virtuix-omni-6.png" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni">Business InsiderThe shoe sensors that track how fast you run or walk.</img>
After the shoes comes the harness, which straps around your waist. There's also some thigh straps. While you could technically use the Omni without a harness, it allows you to run and lean forward without falling over, and it frees up your hands from trying to keep you balanced, so you can hold a controller, or in this case, a plastic gun.
<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac7fd76bb3f71f05826095-1200-924/virtuix-omni-7.png" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni">Business Insider</img>
The last step was to don the Oculus Rift headset. For this demo, we used an Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, which isn't bad, but it's not nearly as nice as the most recent Crescent Bay prototype.
<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac8017eab8ea6c54cf6c26-1200-924/virtuix-omni-8.png" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni">Business Insider</img>
With the headset covering my vision, the Virtuix team booted up their own demo, which is a speed run where you try your best to shoot down various targets through a maize of rooms. The faster, the better.
Running on the Omni certainly doesn't feel like actual running. Your feet rarely leave the ground. Instead, it's more of a continuous sliding, almost like you're pedaling your feet across a wooden floor in slippery socks.
&#xa0;<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac830b69beddce110a7d02/omni%20gif%201.gif" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni GIF 1">Business Insider</img>
That being said, it's still feels like the closest thing to running in virtual reality that I've ever experienced, and it's quite the workout.&#xa0;Once I got the hang of it, I quickly found myself running from room to room, using my head to focus on a target and the gun to activate an iron site for better aim.
<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ac83d56da8114f7b59827a-1200-924/virtuix-omni-9.png" border="0" alt="Virtuix Omni">Business Insider</img> 
Now, the nice thing about the Virtuix Omni is that it plays nicely with all games, since it's basically just translating your footsteps into a forward, left, or right direction and feeding it into the game, almost like a big gamepad that you can run on. While that's probably the best way for the Omni to be compatible with a large range of games when the Oculus Rift launches, it also means that movements are far from exact; the movements are merely estimations.
All in all, this final version of the Omni looks and feels almost ready for release. There's still no ability to move backward or to strafe left or right, but I was told that's being worked on for the consumer release, which is scheduled for the first half of 2015. Design wise, the construction is far more solid and polished than other past Omni iterations, some of which actually featured a wooden rather than metal frame, and it can also be taken apart for storage, since it does take up a lot of space.
So should VR enthusiasts shell out $499 on a virtual reality treadmill? Like most VR tech coming out, the best option is still to wait. The Omni is a great workout, so if you're planning on buying an Oculus Rift and want to lose weight while using it, the Omni is a great choice that will work well enough with games.
But Oculus is still the leader of the pack when it comes to VR, and since they're targeting a seated experience, it's safe to say that you won't be missing out if you decide to save $499 and just sit on the couch. It might be slightly less immersive, but as of right now, there's no need to physically move your legs in VR quite yet.
You can pre-order a Virtuix Omni <a href="http://www.virtuix.com/">right here.</a>

How Do You Move In Virtual Reality? With A Treadmill Like This One I Just Tried

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/51acfce8eab8eadf45000014-1117-838/omnijungle18x12v11.jpg?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Omni_Jungle_18x12_v11" width="400" height="300" /><a href="http://www.virtuix.com/press/">www.virtuix.com</a></div></div>The tech world may be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/90-year-old-woman-uses-oculus-rift-2013-4">buzzing</a> about the <keyword id="1620564" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Oculus-Rift">Oculus Rift</keyword> — the newest <keyword id="6369781" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Virtual-reality">virtual reality</keyword> head-mounted display — but for those lucky enough to own a Rift, all eyes are on the Virtuix Omni's <keyword id="842662" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kickstarter">Kickstarter</keyword> debut.
The omni-directional treadmill will allow gamers to literally "get off the couch" and walk/sprint around games' environments, utilizing a bowl-shaped, low-friction surface and matching shoes. The Omni is set to launch its <a href="http://www.virtuix.com/">Kickstarter</a> crowdfunding page on Tuesday, with a promised endorsement from the founder of the Oculus Rift himself, Palmer Lucky, in a move that bodes well for the Omni's future implementation in games. 
Designed to be used in tandem with a head-mounted display such as the Oculus Rift, the Virtuix Omni is likely the last remaining piece for creating the Holy Grail of virtual reality setups. With Razer's positional-tracking controller, the <a href="http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-controllers/razer-hydra">Hydra</a>, recently finding its niche with Rift owners, the Virtuix Omni offers enthusiasts the chance to be mobile as well.
Keep an eye on Virtuix's <a href="http://www.virtuix.com/">homepage</a> for more information on the upcoming Kickstarter launch. 
<iframe width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zOYklm_C7Ks?feature=player_embedded"></iframe>

This Virtual Reality Treadmill Could Be The 'Holy Grail' Of Video Game Controllers

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52a5ed1f6bb3f70416327d8a-1198-898/al-bubba-baker-on-shark-tank.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Al 'Bubba' Baker on Shark Tank" width="480" /><keyword id="1417364" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Shark-Tank">Shark Tank</keyword></div></div>How did a former NFL player-turned-entrepreneur with disappointing sales get an investment from the Sharks in the latest episode of ABC's reality pitch show "Shark Tank?"
It's not because Al "Bubba" Baker is a former professional athlete. Instead, it's because he knows how to talk about his challenges.
Baker's business, Baby Back Rib Steak, offers de-boned ribs that are ready to eat after two minutes of heating in the microwave. But here's the problematic detail: Baby Back Rib Steak only generated $154,000 in sales over the last year - even though Baker's been working on the idea for the last 20 years. When investor Barbara Corcoran asked him what happened in those undocumented 19 years, Baker admitted to quitting on his business before his daughter convinced him to give it another try.
Baker's personalized story stood out compared to the other hopefuls on the show, who didn't admit to any challenges or major competitors. 
When the Sharks asked co-owners Alexander Mendeluk and Marley Merota, whose faux fur headgear business Spirithood generated $9.3 million in sales in the past three years, about their competitors, they couldn't pinpoint any. And when investor Mark Cuban asked entrepreneur Jan Goetelvk how he was going to compete for consumer dollars with Virtuix Omni, a treadmill-like virtual reality gaming system that had 3,000 pre-orders before it rolled out its first product, Goetelvk also couldn't answer.
These examples prove that even when your numbers are impressive, <keyword id="53533" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="entrepreneurs">entrepreneurs</keyword> still need to be able to predict future challenges and size up competitors. 
While Baker's numbers were not as impressive, he was able to show product and process patents for de-boning baby back ribs and was honest about what he was up against. It ultimately secured him a $300,000 investment from Daymond John for a 30% equity stake, contingent on securing a licensing deal.

You Searched For "virtuix omni" and got 5 results

Virtuix Omni Product Test

Forget The Playstation 4 And XBox One, This Device Actually Lets You Run Around Inside Video Games

William Wei

How Do You Move In Virtual Reality? With A Treadmill Like This One I Just Tried

Steven Tweedie

This Virtual Reality Treadmill Could Be The 'Holy Grail' Of Video Game Controllers

Steven Tweedie

Mind-Blowing Numbers Aren't The Only Thing 'Shark Tank' Investors Care About

Vivian Giang