Virtuix Set to Release VR Treadmill This September

Today has been quite the milestone for VR motion peripherals enthusiasts. Just an hour after Roto VR introduced its $799 spinning gaming chair, Virtuix unveiled a launch date for its much-anticipated Omni One VR treadmill. Mark your calendars for September 10th because that’s when this long-in-the-making $2,595 system, plus shipping, finally begins shipping. It’s been quite the journey, since the project’s inception over a decade ago.

I remember penning a piece headlined, “A decade later, this VR treadmill is finally ready to ship,” on April 3rd last year. Technology’s pace can feel both exhilaratingly rapid and frustratingly sluggish. For hardware startups like Virtuix, it often seems to be the latter.

Over the years of its development, Virtuix has generated significant interest. Despite the leaps in VR technology, locomotion remains a challenging puzzle. Convincing your brain that you’re moving while you’re actually standing or sitting motionless is far from ideal and can even leave users feeling queasy.

Virtuix’s development saga coincided with a surge in mixed reality, championed by tech giants like Oculus/Meta, HTC, and now Apple. Impressively, Virtuix has attracted $40 million in funding from a mix of venture capitalists and individual investors. Its Omni One even got a nod in pop culture, serving as a prototype for a similar contraption in Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One.”

The Omni One’s design is elegantly straightforward. Unlike conventional treadmills, it doesn’t have any moving parts. Users wear specially designed footwear and move forward by slipping in place on a concave platform.

Jan Goetgeluk, the company’s CEO, expressed the team’s enthusiasm in a press release: “With our official launch on September 10th, we’re excited to invite gamers into the Omni One community. The enthusiastic feedback from our beta testers has been a tremendous boost, and we’re eager to revolutionize the gaming experience for players across all age groups.”

During its preorder window, Virtuix successfully sold 3,000 Omni One units, showcasing just how much anticipation surrounds this new VR experience.