omni-directional treadmill

[Admin]

Before watching this movie, imagine first how to make a treadmill omni-directional. Just try.

Ok so its not a robot, but it does however involve a ton of robotics technology to make.

Now enjoy!

[youtube=425,350]msci440q18s[/youtube]

[Tsukubadaisei]

lol. The guy who created this toy is my teacher of "mechanisms for mechatronics" here in Tsukuba, his name is Hiroo Iwata.

[S. Karim]

I understand how it can detect direction to go...but how does it infinitely generate the walking path?

A treadmill works like a tanks tracks, it keeps rolling. Only thing I can think of is to spin the entire track on a turntable according to the accelerometers?

[Brandon121233]

I could definitely see this being used in some kind of future startrek holideck...

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Can you say "Fully immersive First Person Shooter?"

[ed1380]

Can you say "Fully immersive First Person Shooter?"

O dude can't believe I didn't think of that.

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Can you say "Fully immersive First Person Shooter?"

O dude can't believe I didn't think of that.

hahaha =)

[snow]

And hardcore gamers will become super athletes 

[Nyx]

I understand how it can detect direction to go...but how does it infinitely generate the walking path?

A treadmill works like a tanks tracks, it keeps rolling. Only thing I can think of is to spin the entire track on a turntable according to the accelerometers?

If you rotated the track, you'd have to rotate the person walking on it... Unless the person was suspended, but then the person could still notice.

In the video, you can see he basically has a threadmill that goes along two perpendicular axes. Don't know exactly how it's made, but I would venture a guess that either all the little bands are sort of like narrow individual threadmills, which themselves can be rotated around a larger threadmill along the other axis.

[Fredrik Andersson]

Like this?

[Admin]

hmmmm that looks feasible . . . but how do they keep the wiring from getting all tangled up?!

[Fredrik Andersson]

hmmmm that looks feasible . . . but how do they keep the wiring from getting all tangled up?!

Oh, yeah... never thought about that...

I guess they could be wired like in DC motors, with those metal sprips. And with the small threadmills, the belt looks plastic or bendable, so they may curve on the way to the bottom side so that a stand can be built around it enabling it to connect to the other smaller threadmills and make contact with the inner side of the large threadmill...

[ed1380]

Like this?

IMO it's ike that, but the little individual, belts are on bearings, and underneath everything, there is a set of omni wheels, that rotate the belts through friction, and the little wheel, let it move right/left

[Tsukubadaisei]

Like this?

Exactly. Now you get a cookie. Here goes a link from the VR laboratoy at my university:
http://intron.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/vrlab_web/torustreadmill/torustreadmill_e.html

The first picture is excatly like yours but with all the wiring and so on.

But there is something way better than this threadmill and it is called CirculaFloor. Here is the link.
http://intron.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/vrlab_web/CirculaFloor/CirculaFloor_e.htm
I still cant understand why darpa hasnt copied this one yet.

[airman00]

The circulaFloor is really cool!. tiles move in orde rto make you a walking path. You have only like 4 tiles which move in front of you so you can walk for miles.....
Check Tsukubadaisei link.