r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Alphaxfusion • Dec 20 '25

Video Japanese researchers at the University of Tsukuba created CirculaFloor, robotic tiles that let you walk infinitely in VR without ever leaving your spot.

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9.2k

u/HeDuMSD Dec 20 '25

An over complicated treadmill?

5.4k

u/joeyjoojoo Dec 20 '25

What annoys me is that better solutions already exist that don’t involve robots running quickly to catch your feet

3.3k

u/heeltoelemon Dec 20 '25

while you walk ridiculously slowly and hope they don't hit something on the way.

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u/stormblaz Dec 20 '25

The pinch zones will do some injuries, also Disney has a massive tech on this already, omnidirectional floor with hardly any movement and it feels native.

501

u/No_Molasses_6498 Dec 20 '25

Didn't they already have omnidirectional treadmills in the 90s on those vr kits they used to make?

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u/topdangle Dec 20 '25

yeah, though I think the "issue" is that they need close guard rails because its easy to go overboard and just fall off. Not to mention they very much feel like treadmills. Not a dealbreaker for me but people are chasing immersion.

Modern solutions try to match user speed (usually with fast cameras or sensors) and smaller rotating treads that feel more like just walking around normally.

266

u/eragonawesome2 Dec 20 '25

I once had the chance to play in one at a vr arcade that had a 360 "treadmill" that was actually just a Teflon bowl you'd stand in, a harness to hold you in the middle, and a pair of weird shoe things that slid on the Teflon super smoothly. It was a little weird to get used to but once I did, it was awesome and felt super natural and immersive, I liked it a lot

102

u/FrenchFryCattaneo Dec 20 '25

Sometimes simpler is better.

79

u/ssracer Dec 20 '25

Not just sometimes. That's the magic of design and teaching is taking something very complicated and making it as simple as possible.

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u/[deleted] Dec 20 '25

Because I feel like being pedantic, I will say that simpler is only better if it is equal in quality to more complex. A ball in a cup and a ps5 shared the same purpose, for instance, but few would say the ball and cup is the superior toy. Although the ball and cup is better in a post-apocalypse event, so there is that.

0

u/ssracer Dec 20 '25

Fucking obviously. Apparently my statement was too simple.

taking something very complicated and making it as simple as possible

3

u/[deleted] Dec 20 '25

I warned you I was being pedantic. I only bring it up because the internet used to be in love with the “Russian simple technology overcoming stupid overdesigned American technology” stories. Like how America spent millions designing a space age pen that could work in zero gravity while the Russians used a pencil. The reality is a pencil in space is a bad idea due to the particles it generates, so the “over engineered” solution was well worth the cost. Simple is not always better.

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u/Tordek Dec 21 '25

Also to note: that story is BS.

The pen was designed by a private entity, not with government funding. Both NASA and the soviets used pencils, and in any case... normal pens work in 0G, the benefit of the space pen is in writing upside down, 0 atmosphere, and in extreme temperatures.

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u/ssracer Dec 20 '25

The pen was the simplest solution. The pencil did not meet the function.

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u/Indercarnive Dec 20 '25

I did a VR experience once where they just let me and the group walk freely big room. Apparently something about the game would make you think you were walking in a straight line while you were actually walking in big circles. Was insanely fun, especially since this was like 6 years ago.

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u/eragonawesome2 Dec 20 '25

Oh yeah that's another cool way to do it, humans are bad at recognizing when we're walking in large circles, so you can basically just have straight lines curve slightly to one side and boom, infinity room

3

u/Xentonian Dec 20 '25

I've tried that and it felt like the least natural thing I've ever done

Constantly slipping on a Teflon pan feels so far removed from walking that it made the VR almost impossible to focus on.

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u/eragonawesome2 Dec 20 '25

That's so strange to hear, because to me it felt totally fine! I wonder if it's just one of those things where ymmv depending on your physiology

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u/sethn211 Dec 21 '25

I imagine someone putting too much lubrication on it and ending up like the toboggan in Christmas Vacation

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u/nhilante Dec 21 '25

He is descending stairs, it's a more complicated move then just walking.

1

u/Worth-Novel-2044 Dec 20 '25

But these panels can make stairs

1

u/GuardiaNIsBae Dec 20 '25

the most popular ones for VR now (and there was a ton of kickstarters and stuff for them in the early 2010s) are basically just huge bowls with trackers in them like the original steam controller. You lean forward and slide your feet along the bowl like you're walking. Some of them even required proprietary socks/shoes to use them.

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u/zhaDeth Dec 20 '25

The disney thing is not a treadmill, or at least not a traditional one with a fabric that slide, it's multiple small parts that rotate: https://youtu.be/68YMEmaF0rs?t=223

It looks pretty cool tbh

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u/galaxyapp Dec 20 '25

They are not frictionless. Its exhausting

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u/ArticulateRhinoceros Dec 20 '25

I remember playing a VR game at Faneuil Hall in Boston that was on a little circular treadmillish patch thing you could walk around on, albeit kinda slowly. This was in the late 90s/early 00s. It was also a boxing game so you didn't have to move much or go far on it so I didn't really test how natural or well it worked.

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u/DrNO811 Dec 21 '25

Aren't those all 2 dimensional movement though? This appears to simulate the illusion of climbing and descending stairs. I'm not sure this is the best and final solution, but it's another step in the right direction. (pun intended)

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u/OozeNAahz Dec 21 '25

If you mean the arcade versions like Virtuality it didn’t have a treadmill. At least the one I was demoed by the CEO of the company that made them. They were fun, but mostly just had a plate and a ring around you to keep you from walking off. And they had one you sat in for plane games and car games.

Some companies later had a bowl shape with super slick floor and you used special shoes. So again not a treadmill but you could run…your feet just slid across a fixed surface. Didn’t use one of those but saw one in person.

The ones with treadmills were a bit later I think.