A New Generation Virtual Reality Individual Portal

We propose to build an energy extractive Individual Portal (I-Port) to the virtual world enabling the user to traverse a large virtual workspace in a very small real space. Using a commercial exercise treadmill, this device will improve virtual training, health maintenance and evaluation, and have a large market for education, recreation, and adversarial gaming. A motion capture, energy extraction platform makes 3 important contributions to the use of Virtual Reality interface by: allowing large displacement movement in the virtual workspace, using energy extraction to induce fatigue and complicate decision making, increasing the user's immersion in the virtual world through force protection. We minimize the floor space required by restricting the real work space to the treadmill surface. This Phase I SBIR will investigate technologies to reduce system cost, improve reliability and safety, and build a prototype demonstration system.