New Treadmill Combines VR With Exercising and Everyone Thought of 'Ready Player One'

Do you like working out? Do you also like immersing yourself in virtual reality? Do you also happen to be a fan of Ready Player One? Now you can combine the two activities!

A start-up called Virtuix is creating a VR-treadmill that could soon be yours. The company is primarily a virtual reality company and not an exercise equipment manufacturer.

The product, called Omni One, consists of a complex full-body controller which will let the user run, jump, crouch as they would in a regular gym, except it will have a VR headset. The set-up can be purchased for $1,995 starting mid-2020. The company also announced a crowdfunding investment campaign.

The development of Virtuix Omni (through crowdfunding) started in 2013. As of now, the company is requesting fans to fund the development with $1,000 dollars. The donors can later avail a discount of 40% when they purchase the product. However, they can consider it “pre-order” and not an actual donation.

As for the device, the platform is a low-friction system with harness and shoe covers. In their prototype video, which they shared on Twitter, one can see how the device holds the person in place as their feet slide across the platform. As the person moves, their movement is replicated into the VR environment which they can see through the VR headsets.

Movie fans may already be getting excited. This device sounds virtually the same as Steven Spielberg’s science-fiction, Ready Player-One, based on the book of the same name.

This is the original video shared on Twitter.

Fans were quick to notice the Ready-Player One vibes.

As seen in the video, the prototype tester is energetically involved in some highly intricate action-tasks. With each movement, the “player” is also seeing himself surrounded by different terrains, despite being in a dark, empty room.

The caption suggests the treadmill is “extremely slippery” and soon it could be a home gym for you. That is, if you are willing to part with nearly two thousand dollars (approximately INR 1,46,509).Looking at the reactions, this would definitely be worth every penny, especially for video game enthusiasts, as the biggest complaint against the gaming community is that just “sit around” all day.