virtuix-omni-gifVirtuix Omni, the forthcoming VR omnidirectional treadmill, will be making an appearance on ABC’s popular venture capital reality show, Shark Tank.

For those who haven’t seen the show, Shark Tank puts entrepreneurs in front of a panel of wealthy investors in the hopes that they’ll be able to make an on-the-spot investment deal.

In a surprise to us, the Virtuix Omni will make an appearance on the show next Friday, December 6th.

In a preview of the forthcoming episode shown at the end of last week’s episode, we see Virtuix CEO Jan Goetgeluk and what appears to be investor Robert Herjavec in the Omni donning the Oculus Rift and that ever-flattering harness:

virtuix omni shark tank vr treadmill 2

Virtuix appears to have been completely silent about their involvement with the show (likely due to an NDA) so we won’t know if they made a deal or not until the episode airs next Friday, December 6th at 9PM EST.

Last week I had a chance to meet up with Virtuix CEO Jan Goetgeluk and try out the Omni for myself.

What we can infer thus far is that the system shown above is the pre-production Omni prototype which is still using the Kinect for leg tracking. Virtuix says that their forthcoming capacitive tracking system will significantly increase tracking quality. One other thing is certain: assuming nothing goes terribly wrong, this is a great step for VR into mainstream consciousness.

Virtuix has thus far raised funding for Omni production through its highly successful Kickstarter, which raised $1.1 million, and is now offering pre-orders through its website.

Will the Sharks be able to see through the Kinect’s sloppy tracking? Do you think Virtuix walked away with an investment?

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • monographix

    I don’t understand. They have a hen that lays golden eggs, they got 1 000 000$ which would be enough to start legit company with loan credit for investments, they say they sell omnix every day and they still want to give away the control to some douchebags whose only goal is to find a gimmick that would still sell when they add 30% dividend to the price? I have a feeling this circus won’t end up very well. No, even worse, this shows they have no freaking idea what to do with money and that they want to go the easy, corporate way.

    • Psuedonymous

      My suspicion is Jan is doing it more for exposure than to actually sell any stake in Virtuix (unless they give him an unusually good deal). It’s worked well for other companies, e.g: http://www.scottevest.com/company/shark_tank.shtml

      I only hope Jan can swing a way to bring down the international shipping cost. As it stands, shipping and customs almost doubles the cost of the Omni in the UK, so I’m waiting on more information on the Cyberith Virtualiser (the ability to dynamically crouch and jump looks nice too).

    • PsychShaman

      I doubt Jan would give away a 51% controlling interest to one of the investors, or even 50% for that matter. My guess is Jan will walk away with more publicity. The investors might not even go for it, it’s not an easy infomercial sell.

      Look at castAR, they did very well with 1.05 million. Before the kickstarter even ended they were talking about finding other investors. Both of these products could benefit from public advertising. Though I hope Jan waits until the Rift is in public hands.

    • Mageoftheyear

      I agree – it’s for the publicity. It’s highly unlikely that Jan would give a chunk of the company away when they are already viable (if small scale) now.

  • snake0

    Look I’m just going to point out the elephant in the room here but does it really have to make your dick stand out that much when you use it….

    • eyeandeye

      They offer a compelling package…

      • snake0

        Ha!