As virtual reality technology has evolved, motion has remained a key issue, for a variety of reasons. The technology for the upper half of the body has remained relatively unchanged, as mobility is limited, but walking has presented challenges for developers in terms of affordability and motion sickness. EKTO VR, a company based on the North Side, has patented virtual reality boots.
"We are at the forefront of a VR revolution and our technology is poised to transform the way people engage with virtual reality, making it more natural and immersive than ever before," CEO Brad Factor said in a prepared statement.
Some people experience motion sickness when using VR, which the industry refers to as cybersickness. The human brain has difficulty comprehending the movement it is perceiving while not moving. To combat this, some developers have limited movability within games, instead giving players the ability to teleport. Other hardware companies have attempted to address this with treadmills, but these are sizable and costly for personal use.
EKTO's boots were used as part of a study on motion sickness by John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and received an "excellent" usability rating, the only locomotion system to receive that score. A spokesperson for EKTO wrote that cybersickness is "a key barrier to VR adoption for greater than 40% of potential VR users."
Although the VR industry is often viewed through the lens of entertainment, primarily video games, there is a broader application for the technology. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been pushing heavily to develop a platform merging virtual reality and the workplace. The technology is also currently being used by stores, for example IKEA and Walmart, to enhance the customer e-commerce experience. Others utilize the technology to train employees.
The company is backed by Reinforced Ventures and Innovation Works. A spokesperson for the company wrote that the company recently secured additional funding from the two.
"This patent is a key milestone in their journey," Euan Guttridge, founder of Reinforced Ventures, said in a prepared statement. "We are proud to support EKTO VR who is setting new standards at the frontier of immersive experiences and redefining what is possible in virtual reality."
