There is no official information yet, but the first image of the final version of Virtuix Omni has already been made public at CES in Las Vegas, which serves us to observe some small differentiating details regarding the prototypes that we had seen until today.
What catches our attention the most are the large blocks that attach the hoop supports to the base. In them we can see a series of holes that serve to regulate the height of the device, and all this seems to indicate that we will be able to disassemble it easily, an important detail for those of us who have little space and cannot afford to always have it unfolded. On the other hand, the hoop that holds the waist seems to be cylindrical instead of flat, as it was in the prototypes, which may be more comfortable when holding on.
As for the base, it seems that it has fewer striations than the prototypes, and we would almost dare to say that it also seems to be somewhat smaller, with a more contained diameter. According to the Virtuix website, they are 45″ in diameter, which is equivalent to about 114 cm, although we do not know if it will be an updated information or will refer to the previous prototypes. It still seems to us that the way of walking is quite natural, but until we have the opportunity to try it, we will not be able to say for sure, although we hope that some impressions will be published during the fair.
What you see above we have discovered on the Virtuix website, it’s about the Omni Tracking PODs, and they are devices based on IMUs (inertial measurement unit) that are put in the shoes (we don’t know how) and follow the movement of the feet with minimal latency. UPDATED 07/01/2015: Finally Virtuix has discarded the capacitive sensors and these Tracking PODs are inserted into the shoes to detect movement.
For the newer ones, remember that this device connects via USB to a computer or via Bluetooth to a mobile device. The Omni Tracking PODs can detect our exact speed and direction, so it does not use any optical system for tracking, which it did in the first prototypes using Kinect. We will have to use special shoes that are purchased together with the device, being able to order several sizes for people of all ages and foot sizes to use it. Currently it can be pre-purchased on the Virtuix website for $499, while those of us who support the Kickstarter campaign were able to get one for $349, shipping costs apart (and we will comment on them as soon as they contact us for shipping). We hope they will reveal more details these days.
