Since your body, and most of your weight, is inside a sphere near the center of gravity, it’s quite easy to rotate the sphere in three directions.

Beneath the sphere, in the base,  is where the magic happens. A set of strong omniwheels, which are powered by some high torque motors, grip the bottom of the sphere with high traction rubber rollers. This means the sphere can be rolled to the side by one set of motors but also simultaneously pitched forward and back and rotated around. This simple idea is what makes the Feel Three so unique and also affordable, we don’t need huge expensive motors to actually lift the user and platform, although this will be added as an upcoming addon.

Most other platforms have a fixed specification. They can accommodate a user of a certain weight and roll and pitch fixed number of degrees. The Feel Three is modular so you could build a simulator that reflects your needs. If you spend all day flying 747’s then you don’t need a massive range of movement and really fast turns, but if you want more oopmh while you’re flying a A=10 warthog or driving a Formula 1 car, add more panels, the heave addon and more motors.

A tracker on the platform also allows the virtual reality headset to continue to track the position of your head in the cockpit but extrapolating the data from the gyroscope in the VR headset so you can look around the virtual cockpit whilst moving in a real one.

The cockpit where the user sits is tethered to a computer outside with a long cable with plenty of slack. Alternatively the user can mount a laptop inside and run a power cable. The software forms a hardware-software loop with the game you are playing, so if you roll your spaceship left the Feel Three checks where you are and begins to turn the motors to achieve that movement. If you accelerate in game the motors pitch the sphere backwards to simulate this g-force, and your body (in game) would remain facing forward. Your body feels this backwards shift in gravity as forward momentum which is reinforced by your eyes seeing you move forward through the game environment.

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