In a recently uploaded YouTube video, Disney showcased the Disney HoloTile. The HoloTile is an omnidirectional VR treadmill, similar to the Virtuix Omni, originally slated for release in 2014. However, instead of looking like a treadmill, the HoloTile looks more like futuristic flooring.
Although the HoloTile is likely nowhere near anything resembling a finished product, it is still fascinating to see such a large corporation take a step toward full immersion in Virtual Reality. The announcement is included at the end of the video above which celebrates the induction of inventor Lanny Smoot into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Smoot is only the second employee of The Walt Disney Company to be inducted aside from Walt Disney himself.
What does this mean?
Ever since the first 6DoF VR headset was released, VR enthusiasts have enjoyed being able to move around in a physical space and have this translate into the virtual realm. However, this experience is always restricted by a play boundary which, if the user exits the boundary, takes the user out of the experience, drastically decreasing immersion.
This is an issue that the HoloTile could fix. It would allow users to walk around in the virtual realm whilst remaining stationary in real life. This would offer users an unrivalled level of freedom to move around extensively without being pulled out of the experience by leaving the play boundary.
The HoloTile is also capable of being used by 2 people simultaneously, perhaps allowing for multiplayer experiences further down the line. Disney have described the HoloTile as the “world’s first multi-person, omnidirectional, modular, expandable, treadmill floor.”
Despite being an unbelievably cool prototype, the peripheral is unfortunately very loud and very expensive. This will likely be the reason why it will be quite a few years before we see anything like this being adopted into the mainstream.
We can only wait in anticipation for further developments and hope that one day we get to try it out for ourselves.
