disney-holotile — Image courtesy Disney

Disney is Working on a VR Treadmill That Supports Multiple Users

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Jan 22, 2024

Disney unveiled an omni-directional treadmill project it hopes to eventually scale up for users both in and outside of virtual reality.

Called HoloTile, the unique device is composed of individual ’tiles’ that rotate and change pitch to accommodate to a user’s stride in order to simulate walking in any given direction.

Disney is billing it as “the world’s first multi-person, omni-directional, modular, expandable, treadmill floor,” saying in a recent blog post that HoloTile is capable of letting any number of people have a shared VR experience, walk an unlimited distance in any direction, and never collide or walk off its surface.

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HoloTile is currently a project of Lanny Smoot, a Disney Research Fellow and longtime member of Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development. Smoot showcases a prototype version of the moving floor in a new video, which also highlights some of his 25 years of contributions to the company as an inventor.

In the video, we get a look at a user wearing a Quest Pro headset and walking alone, two people walking in different directions, and objects being effortlessly shuffled around the floor. You can catch that video, time-stamped to the HoloTile bit, below:

In addition to its use for VR users, Smoot says HoloTile could also be used as an insert in a theatrical stage, which he says will allow “performers to move and dance in new ways, or stage props and structures to move around or appear to set themselves up.”

Of course, HoloTile isn’t the first omni-directional treadmill; there have been a number of different styles of motorized, floor-style treadmills in the past, however they’ve generally proven too expensive and complex for anything but closed-door applications—that’s in addition to being generally ineffective at perfectly replicating normal walking, as you’ll see most demonstrators taking stilted half-steps instead of standard, more natural strides.

We’re looking forward to seeing HoloTile scaled up, and tuned in a way that allows users more fluid and natural movement. You can bet if Disney can do it, HoloTile will be heavily featured at the company’s theme parks.

ViRGiN

Pretty interesting. Curious how complex it looks under the floor.
Dragon Marble

To make these systems feel natural, we need something that can not only offset motion, but also simulate acceleration. A simple concept model using existing technology as building blocks would be treadmills on a treadmill on a motion simulator.
- Cl
  
  I’ll be happy once we figure out a good way for motion, this looks promising. Mayve after that they can figure out acceleration… getting a bit ahead of yourself lol
  - Dragon Marble
    
    The acceleration mismatch is what keeps knocking you off balance and makes it feel extremely unnatural. I don’t think you will be happy if you keep falling over on this thing. Look how carefully and slowly the demonstrates walk.
- Nepenthe
  
  What about Vestibular Stimulation? There was some type of headphone / headset at CES several years ago that could simulate the feeling of velocity changes / inertia / lateral G in the user’s brain. No idea how scalable and safe that is or how effective the simulation is, but it’s an idea.
  - Dragon Marble
    
    Don’t know what that is. Sounds like something that creates illusions. That’s probably not a good idea in this use case. I’d rather realize that something is wrong and feel unnatural than not realize it until my nose hits the ground. I think we need something that can generate actual lateral G.
    - Nepenthe
      
      You can search for “Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation” and also do another search adding “Samsung” at the end — their prototype was called the Entrim 4D.
      
      Short of things like motion platforms for driving or flying sims, I struggle to see how we’ll generate actual lateral G. Certainly I can’t conceive of something that would be consumer level. Maybe a high end amusement park will develop something, or maybe the Pais Effect and its patents will actually pan out some day. Other than that, or the GVS thing I already mentioned, I think we’ll be waiting for sensations to be delivered directly to the brain. And waiting and waiting. Maybe by 2080?
Christian Schildwaechter

I’m wouldn’t bet that Disney can do it. There have been indeed numerous attempts at creating an omnidirectional treadmill, including several where users walk on a surface consisting of small wheels. This may be the world’s first “multi-person, omni-directional, modular, expandable, treadmill floor”, but everything except the multi-person part exists. With the wheels being basically individually controlled omnidirectional Mecanum wheels turned upside down, moving in different directions for different persons is mostly a software question, something others may not have bothered to try because they barely work for one person.

All omnidirectional treadmills have lots of problems. Besides the “running in a dish” ones without moving parts, they only work for rather slow movements, and changing direction can easily throw you off balance. Walking on small wheels is even harder than on a flat, moving belt. They’d have to make the wheels very small for it to feel “flat” and stable, but then something like a small stone could block it.

This looks like another cool prototype, with the same fundamental issues as previous attempts. So no bets that this is going to make it into a Disney exhibits anytime soon. Even running on a regular, motorized treadmill is different from running on the street, because you’re no longer “falling” forward, but instead jumping while some moves the floor. In active omnidirectional treadmills the floor can move in unexpected directions, making it a bit like walking on ice: unless you walk very carefully, you’ll fall.
- Cl
  
  This is the best one I’ve seen yet.
- XRC
  
  Better strap on the rollerblading safety gear including wrist guards
  - Christian Schildwaechter
    
    Or wear one of those human sized inflatable balls used by people to roll down hills. Which I just learned is called “Zorbing”, much more popular than I expected and probably also a great training instrument for those suffering from motion sickness. If you can “zorb” down a hill for fun without throwing up, even smooth turning shouldn’t be a problem. And the motion would be extremely easy to implement as a VR treadmill, you only need to orthogonally placed motors to turn the ball just like in real live. No need for fancy omnidirectional, modular, expandable tiles with lots of tiny wheels on them.
sfmike

Since Disney has lost its way I doubt we will see any new tech from them here. If this is developed it may be used in their Asian parks that are the only ones they seem to care about now.
Andrew Jakobs

as you’ll see most demonstrators taking stilted half-steps instead of standard, more natural strides.
Just like in this video. I wonder how the reaction time of the ‘pebbles’ is, as in the video you see him, and the other guy, walk very slowly.
psuedonymous

It’s a clever mechanism to minimise the number of actuators (and actuator power) needed per tile. There is one common ‘speed’ drive that spins all the ganged discs and determines how fast an object is move across the tile. There are then two actuators that tilt all the discs in unison (think helicopter cyclic) to change the effective direction of surface drive by choosing what point on the circumference of the disc is highest and thus in contact with the object. Key is that each disc can tilt around a common point of contact that can bear the load of anything on top, so the ‘cyclic’ actuators do not have to actually lift the mas of the objects on top so can be smaller, cheaper, and more rapidly responding.
It’s an elegant design, with the obvious downside that it relies on a minimum object size to function (to span multiple discs) and requires a rigid underside (because the discs are effectively point-contact). That means solid objects and hard-bottomed shoes work, but soft objects or kneeling will either not drive correctly or be painful (or both).
- Cl
  
  Are you expecting to crawl around or something? Anyway, knee pads would work
TonyVT SkarredGhost

Interesting, but I bet this will never be sold in stores
Peter vasseur

I want to see them running on it.