Remember back in the \’90s when virtual reality was supposed to be the next big thing? You wore goggles and gloves and the picture would move as you looked around. The biggest problem was that you couldn\’t move around in a virtual space by actually taking steps; you had use a joystick or walk in place which looked and felt stupid.

Japanese researchers developed a system to allow a person to actually walk while remaining in one spot. Their system, called CirculaFloor, \”…consists of four square floor tiles, each incorporating several motors and wheels to enable the tiles to move in any direction. The tiles move to cancel out the motion of someone walking. They use magnetic sensors attached to the walker\’s feet to determine the direction they are walking.\”

There\’s a video demonstration too. Pretty cool stuff.
[ From Sensory Impact ]