Coming Soon

« Company Overview
365
2022-01-01 to 2022-03-31
Collaborative R&D
Virtual Reality (VR) headsets have advanced significantly over the last decade since the Oculus Kickstarter in 2012\. Big VR companies (Oculus, Valve, etc) continue to improve VR headsets and controllers, however, solving problems such as naturally walking indefinitely in VR have come to a standstill. Current VR technology limits the user to move within the confines of a small 'cleared area' within their homes. The user can take a few steps but will soon reach the boundary of their play area. This is often described as immersion-breaking. Most VR applications use software workarounds to move the user by either pointing and clicking to a destination (teleportation) or using a joystick to move forwards. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of current VR technology because the user feels like they are floating around while sitting or standing still. Additionally, these software-based solutions may cause motion sickness since the actual motion and the motion the eyes perceive are not the same. The challenge is to create a technological solution that can allow the user to walk normally as far as they wish, and stop, turn, etc, while keeping the user safe and preventing them from physically moving outside a small area. Existing options, such as the Kat Walk C and Virtuix slidemills, are huge, bulky, expensive and provide unnatural movement. Freeaim Technologies is developing cutting-edge VR shoes to provide the most natural way to walk in virtual reality. They provide an immersive walking experience with the same movements as during normal walking and no learning curve. They are compact, affordable to consumers and keep the user safely confined within a small area. The shoes contain small internal treadmills that drive the user back to a calibrated position. We currently have a functional prototype, which can be walked on without initial training or additional supporting devices. VR enthusiasts strive to achieve the best possible immersive experience, and our market research indicates they see a large opportunity. There are also significant opportunities in Business to Business (B2B) with Training and Simulation across all sectors, including military, public sector, and enterprise. We have partnered with a UK early-stage company Vidina Solutions who are developing VR Training Solutions. They intend to utilise Immersive VR technologies such as Haptics and VR locomotion technologies to enhance their training solutions. In this project, we hope to evaluate a new prototype that includes sidestepping for business training solutions.