Virtual reality technologies are poised to make a significant impact on our everyday lives. Virtual reality headsets like Apple Vision, HTC Vive, or the Meta Quest, give us opportunities to play or work in immersive environments. However, there are practical issues with trying to overlay a virtual world on to our real one. In particular, having enough space to explore the virtual world that doesn’t seem to have the same set up as your living room. That’s where the HoloTile can help. Disney’s imagineers have designed the HoloTile floor that will allow you to explore all those virtual reality scenarios without tripping over you coffee table or bumping into walls.

We’ve thought about for immersive experiences for a while

The first virtual reality environment I remember seeing on TV was the Holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Holodeck is a room on the Enterprise-D, so I’m not sure how they were able to move so well through all those virtual environments.

You’ve probably also seen virtual reality in a few other movies and TV shows like, Tron: Legacy or the Striking Vipers episode of Black Mirror. Many movies and shows don’t really deal with the physical space problem. They show users being digitized or uploading their consciousness to a new reality, therefore not requiring a physical space for movement.

I wonder if any movies ever actually dealt with the physical floor space problem, or if it was just too much to imagine.

Sometimes we have issues moving in a virtual world while still tethered to the real one

If you have ever tried on a virtual reality headset, then you understand the danger at hand.

The immersive experience can seem so real that you forget that the real world has a different set up.

The HoloTile floor enables infinite movement in the virtual world without moving too far

So the HoloTile floor is an array of rotatable discs that can move in any direction to “counteract” the user’s movements.

They use sensors to determine users’ movements and then rotate the discs opposite the detected motion to keep the user essentially stationary, even though they are walking or moving their feet. Think of it as an treadmill that you can use in any direction with multiple people simultaneously. Additionally, the floor can move around stationary objects in any direction desired.

Looking at the videos I am wondering how does this work for someone running. The demonstrations seem to show fairly conservative gaits. I can see someone really getting into a VR session and then running or sliding around.

I also wonder how much this will end up costing. For now, I imagine this would be something used as a type of attraction at Disney. How hard will this be to install in my home? How modular can it be made for shipping and easy install?

The technology for the HoloTile is super interesting

It was pretty easy to find the main patent for the HoloTile entitled “Floor system providing omnidirectional movement of a person walking in a virtual reality environment” (US10416754).

The system is able to track and predict the user’s position and movement. Based on that monitoring, the system moves the tiles in coordination with the user.

The arrangement, spin, and tilt of the tiles seems to be important for pushing the user in a particular direction.

The tiles vibrate in the z direction and rotate in the xy plane to alter the friction between the tiles and the object, like the user’s shoe, to cause movement or lack of movement. The can happen in any direction or for multiple users due to the discrete nature of the tiles. The whole floor doesn’t have to move, just the tiles in contact with the object. Also because the tiles are discrete, they could make the floor larger and still get the same functionality.

I do wonder how stable participants feel if there was not tilt of the tiles. Would this be like standing on ice and feeling unstable? Do the tilted tiles give the foot something to grip?

Even as excited as I am about this invention, I personally think I would freak out trying to move on this. However, I much prefer it to the consciousness uploading.

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