Virtual Reality Gets Easier

A shoe with wheels lets virtual reality fans explore new worlds without bumping into walls.

The Freeaim VR Shoe

In virtual reality (VR), gamers can go just about anywhere without leaving their homes. All they have to do is put on a headset. But how do you avoid bumping into real walls and furniture while moving through spacious virtual worlds? A company called Freeaim claims to have solved this problem with a specially designed shoe.

Each Freeaim VR Shoe has a set of wheels, which makes them sort of like roller skates. But wearing regular roller skates while wearing a headset could lead to accidents. By contrast, the wheels on the VR Shoes move in all directions. When the wearer takes a step forward with one leg, the shoe on the back leg moves that leg back, keeping the wearer from actually moving forward. The effect is similar to walking on a treadmill. A user can walk for miles anywhere in a virtual world without worrying about bumping into anything in the real world.

Here’s a look at the new shoes in action.

VR Shoes allow wearers to turn in any direction and walk a couple of steps to the left or to the right. Freeaim is working on making it possible for users to take as many sidesteps as they want and even walk backward.

The shoes are available only to certain companies, and they cost about $5,000. But that’s set to change. Freeaim is working on a version that it will sell to the public. That product will still cost about $1,000.

Did You Know?

Now used for exercise, the treadmill originated in 1817 as a device for punishing prisoners by making them walk and walk for hours each day without getting anywhere.

Virtual Touch

Virtual reality headsets let users visit and move around in virtual worlds. But while the headsets bring sights and sounds, users don’t get the sense that they’re touching anything inside the VR world.

But now, scientists are developing haptic gloves meant to enhance the VR experience. (Haptic technology is the science of transmitting and receiving information through touch.) Fluid is used to move tiny actuators in the fingertips of the gloves in a pattern that mimics the textures of various things. To the wearer, it feels like they’re touching an object that they’re seeing through the virtual headset.

The video below shows a demonstration of the gloves.

Fluid Reality & CMU

Animal Navigation

You already know that humans rely heavily on their senses to navigate the world around them. But some animals have ways of perceiving their surroundings that humans don’t.

Bats find objects through echolocation—by bouncing sound waves off them and listening for echoes. Lice and ticks can sense thermal radiation from potential hosts. Yuck!

You can learn more about clever critters and their senses at Britannica.

WORD OF THE DAY

tactile

PART OF SPEECH:

adjective

Definition:

: relating to the sense of touch

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See if you can find all the virtual reality words.

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