Disney Imagineer Lanny Smoot unveils Holotile – a multi-person, VR walking treadmill prototype

During a congratulatory video of Disney Research Fellow Lanny Smoot for his upcoming induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Smoot revealed the Holotile virtual reality treadmill prototype. Unlike other VR treadmills that allow single VR users to walk any distance without physically moving from the same location, the Holotile allows multiple users to walk on the same platform in any direction simultaneously.

Virtual reality users are often forced to use controllers or other unnatural devices to move around VR worlds. This distracts from the immersive experience while often tying up their hands from other uses. Various concepts have been created to deal with this limitation. One concept involves causing the body to believe it is walking through the use of slight-of-hand foot vibrators that trick the mind into feeling motion.

The Holotile is similar to other VR treadmills that enable users to walk in any direction without their bodies physically moving about a room. One is the StriderVR treadmill designed for single users as can be seen here. The StriderVR is based on common, product manufacturing conveyor systems that use rotating balls to move items on top such as the uni QNB Ball, and similar methods use rollers such as the Intralox conveyor belts. The rolling balls used in the StriderVR eliminates the need to be tethered to the platform for safety as required by the KAT Walk C 2 treadmill.

Inspection of the Disney video suggest the surface tiles can tilt, so the most likely method of locomotion are rotating discs that tilt in the desired direction of movement. Any object on top will simply move in the direction of tilt encouraged by gravity and rotation. 

A potential advantage of a rotating disc VR treadmill is greater contact surface with the object above. The full face of the disc, or even the edge, provides greater object contact that the top of a rotating ball. It is possible to raise individual discs along a gradient to simulate hill ascent or descent, but it is unknown whether the Holotile has this ability. Until Disney releases the virtual Holotile experience to the public, why not enjoy enhanced real life with a pair of lightweight XR glasses (like this at Amazon).