I might put this on the front page, it sums up everything nicely in 398 words…..
Since the invention of the classic six degree of freedom platform sixty years ago motion simulators haven’t changed much. They remain massive, ugly and slightly dangerous. Despite the advances in materials and engineering they still require large, powerful, and expensive motors to lift a platform to simulate movement. This keeps motion simulators stuck in the realm of an expensive niche product. After all who has £5,000 to £20,000 lying around?
With the dawning age of virtual reality gamers will no long be content to peer through a monitor screen and they’ll begin to demand a more visceral experience to match the feeling of being inside another world that the rift provides. The market for the first affordable motion simulator is potentially massive.
What is needed is a new design that gives the user not only an affordable, modular device but one that is safe, stylish and smart.
This is the philosophy behind the Feel Three Motion Simulator for Oculus Rift.
Instead of lifting a chair in a fixed rectangular frame, we use interlocking aluminium hexagonal and pentagonal panels which are curved into a semi sphere. They’re light, cheap and very strong. This design allows the user to decide their range of pitch and roll, since you decide the amount of panels. 360° yaw is also built in and as John Carmack said recently “Swivel chair VR is going to be kind of a big deal”. If you want to go all out, make a fully enclosed sphere to roll and loop all day. The platform can even turned into a snowboard or hang glider simulator, and if you’re not a hardcore gamer you can just fill it with cushions and chill while you gently sway to the latest demo.
A motion simulator disguised as a chic sofa? Your wife will love it!
An electronic gyroscope on the platform works out where you are 1,000 times a second and the Oculus Rift camera is mounted to the platform. The base powers the sphere with revolutionary ‘omnichains’, which allow 3 degrees of rotation simultaneously and an optional heave module allows low power vertical movement with counter weights. The whole kit is tiny when unassembled and since it’s modular you can buy the basic platform and build your unique design .
And the price? Slightly more than a decent gaming PC.
A cool, safe, affordable motion simulator for the masses. It’s time.
You feelin’ it?
Change the line “Your wife will love it!” to “Who wouldn’t love it?!”. Playing the wife card is kinda old and sexist – what if it is a woman gamer/VR/geek/whatever person that is interested in this product? And it _does_ look like an _awesome_ chair – if the panels were cheap enough, i’d be tempted to get them just to make the chair! Anyway, all IMNSHO, YMMV, etc etc.
I changed it to ‘surprising your granny’, perhaps even old or more sexist but certainly a more funny image… 🙂