More new technology for navigating virtual worlds now, albeit not something you'd be able to install in your living room. It's called CyberCarpet, and it's an omni-directional treadmill that's being used to allow people to walk naturally around virtual cities, with the initial application involving virtual Pompeii and Rome.
The CyberCarpet has been developed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany, and involves 25 conventional treadmills, tracking technology, and the software required to power the virtual environments. Oh, and virtual reality headsets for the people walking on it.
The virtual world platform comes from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and is called CityEngine. The two teams say the technology could have applications for gaming, education, architecture, disaster planning, and medical rehabilitation.
Maybe they should wire it up to Second Life, too…
(via BBC News Online)
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