Raptor Valley VR

This is the Infinadeck, an omnidirectional treadmill designed for Virtual Reality gaming. This right here is the next step after the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive bring us "room-scale" VR.

I tried the Virtuix Omni for the first time yesterday at CES, then walked over to the Infinadeck booth and was graciously permitted to try it out in order to compare.  Just a warning, even though I am not affiliated with or invested in either company and will try to judge them fairly, I must admit up front that one was a huge disappointment and the other shockingly impressive.

Here are videos I recorded of the two in action: Virtuix Omni and the Infinadeck.

(That's not me on either one, those are experienced players demonstrating proper use.)

The two systems are designed around completely opposite philosophies.  The Virtuix Omni is a "slide-mill," a passive treadmill that has no moving parts except for the player and functions by making the player's feet slide back to the center with every step.  It requires specialized shoes with a couple of large slippery nubs on the bottom.

By contrast the Infinadeck is an active treadmill that is effectively one treadmill within another at a 90 degree angle.  It moves the floor along one axis or the other or a combination of the two to match the player's direction of travel.  No specific kind of shoes are required.

One key difference in the products is that the Virtuix Omni is available now for pre-order for $699, but the Infinadeck is still deep in development--in fact I was told that this prototype was only made 2 weeks ago.  And when it finishes development it will be sold mainly to commercial customers first, not your average gamer.

And there is a good reason for that, the Infinadeck will probably not fit in most homes.  The walking surface is almost 2 feet above the floor and it requires a stand that goes at least another 2 feet above the player's head, so unless you have high vaulted ceilings you won't be using this at home.  Although, if you can afford what it will cost you probably do.

But that's the last negative thing I have to say about the Infinadeck because it is by far the superior VR experience in every other way.  Walking on it is entirely natural, the harness around the middle is not uncomfortable, and at no point did I feel like I was being pulled or pushed somewhere I wasn't trying to go.  In addition the surface was surprisingly firm and stable.  And yes, you can walk in a circle, it's the first thing I tried.

The Infinadeck senses which direction to move the floor based on the angle the player is leaning, using an ingeniously simple (single!) sensor connected to the harness.  It's the same self-righting principle behind a Segway or Hoverboard, but one that doesn't even need to turn.  It was perfectly intuitive; I needed no instruction to use it and had no difficulty whatsoever.

It's current (understandable) limitations are that it has a low top speed slightly above a brisk walk and the motors that control the treadmill take a fraction of a second too long to speed up or slow down, both of which should be fixed before it releases.  In my test I barely noticed these problems.

When I tried the Virtuix Omni I first strapped myself in using a complicated harness and railing system (the Infinadeck needed only one strap) and was told to take a minute to get used to moving on it.  I needed a lot more time than that.

Now, I'm not that uncoordinated, but I felt like a baby in a walker taking his first steps on an uneven ice skating rink.  And it never got better.  In the game I tried I found myself hating every moment I was forced to move, preferring to stand still and blast enemies from a distance instead of moving in or taking cover.  The immersion aspect was nice, except every slippery step made me feel like the game world was some kind of ice planet.  At the end, when a large robot suddenly appeared I attempted to back up but found that I could barely stumble backward at all.  The only easy way to move was directly forward.

Another limitation of the Virtuix Omni is that the railing system would make it impossible for you to use the Oculus Touch or Vive controllers below your waist, the railing would block your arms.  The Infinadeck has no such problem.

The video I linked to above is an experienced gamer who was in a competition, so he knows his stuff.  He was much better at it than I was which means it's possible to become accustomed to the Virtuix Omni's particular mode of locomotion eventually.  So it can work, it's just not intuitive.

If the Infinadeck and Virtuix Omni were both available for purchase and use today, in exactly the same condition as they are today, and the price and space requirements were not an issue then my choice would be simple.  I absolutely prefer the current prototype Infinadeck over the fully production-ready Virtuix Omni.

Which is why I'm so excited for the future of the Infinadeck's development.  It's already more intuitive and usable than the others so it should be even more so by the time it's released.  Maybe it will keep up with you if you break into a full sprint, or suspend you in the air when you jump until your avatar lands in the game.  I can't wait to see what's next.

Nevertheless, I concede that if you are willing to deal with the difficulties of using the Virtuix Omni then it is, at least, possible to buy and use and fit in your living room.  The Infinadeck honestly may never be the living room experience that passive slide-mills are, even if it is the more immersive solution.

Raptor Valley VR