Digital Media Concepts/Infinadeck Omnidirectional Treadmill

Infinadeck edit

Basic Information edit

 
An omnidirectional treadmill as used by the United States Army for training.

Infinadeck is a company based out of Rocklin, California. They have focused on the development of a single product, the Omnidirectional treadmill. The purpose of this creation was to enhance the experience of using a VR headset.

Their exact description is as follows:

Infinadeck is the world's first commercially-viable omnidirectional treadmill. This patented device allows users to naturally walk in any direction and, when paired with a VR headset, creates a personal holodeck experience that will allow users to take a stroll through vast, immersive new worlds.[1]

Appearances in the media edit

The earliest appearances of Infinadeck in the media starts in 2014 on Twitter.[2]

Infinadeck was really put on the map in April 2018 when Infinadeck gave a product demonstration to Destin Sandlin[3][4], best known from his YouTube channel "Smarter Every Day," and Adam Savage, who you might know as a host of the popular science show MythBusters. Sandlin, an engineer, posted his review videos on April 16, 2018 and did his best to decipher the technology behind the treadmill and break it down in a way that's easy for viewers to understand. Savage posted his video to his mini show "Adam Savage's Tested"[5] just two days later on the 18th, where co-hosts Norm and Jeremy showcased the treadmill and it's features.

Shows and Demonstrations edit

Infinadeck has done several major public demonstrations in the past.[6]

  • Augmented Reality Expo (May 30- June 1, 2018)
  • 5th SVVR Anniversary Meetup (May 16, 2018)
  • Infinadeck Global Launch Party (March 28, 2018)
  • IMAX Premier Demo Event (March 28, 2018)
  • Ready Player One: VR Showcase (March 24-25, 2018)

Current prototypes and speculative pricing edit

As of September 2019, Infinadeck has not made their product commercially available, although they do have functional prototypes available for testing at demonstrations and expos. Fans have been following the company closely, eager to get their hands on one should the product become available. Infinadeck has not released a price range for the finished product, but speculation from reddit users u/redmercuryvendor and u/traveltrousers range from $10,000 (for one unit) to $30,000 (for several developer kits).[7]

References edit

  1. Infinadeck Your reality just got bigger, retrieved 2019-09-26
  2. "Infinadeck (@Infinadeck) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  3. The Infinadeck Omnidirectional Treadmill - Smarter Every Day 192 (VR Series), retrieved 2019-09-26
  4. Infinadeck Omnidirectional Treadmill - Behind The Scenes - Smarter Every Day VR Series, retrieved 2019-09-26
  5. Hands-On with VR OmniDirectional Treadmill!, retrieved 2019-09-26
  6. "Infinadeck - Events | Infinadeck". Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  7. "r/virtualreality - What happened to Infinadeck?". reddit. Retrieved 2019-10-01.