CES 2015 Round-Up

Our presence at CES was a great success! The Omni received outstanding reviews from the audience and from the press and public who tried out the device.



Ben Lang from Road To VR compares his experience at CES 2015 to his prior Omni impressions and cites the comfortable harness and how much fun he had playing our speed shooter, TRAVR: Training Ops.



Khail of CNET’s Tomorrow Daily describes his “amazing” experience on the Omni at CES.

Slashgear points out the fascination and astonishment that was the vibe surrounding our booth during the show.

Venturebeat mentions how the Omni can make you feel more immersed in VR, and how our growing ecosystem of peripherals is needed to give consumers a complete virtual reality experience.

Ars Technica describes how our CES units were leaps and bounds improved over the prototype they last tried.

Finally, USA Today included the Omni as one of the ultimate show highlights in their three-minute Must See round-up of CES 2015.

Production Update

Virtuix learned a lot from our demos at CES and from the great amount of feedback we received from the community. Specifically, we learned a ton about the desired sizes and shapes of the support harness, which we will further optimize to ensure our small, medium and large harnesses are as comfortable and versatile as possible for all user sizes.

We also heard your concerns regarding the possibility of tall users’ feet kicking the struts while using the Omni. We will provide more clearance for tall users by adjusting the design of the inside covers of the strut bases and by moving the vertical “blockers” of the support harness further outwards (which keeps the user more centered on the platform rather than on the edge).

We are currently focused on setting up our supply chain and ensuring the quality of each Omni that we ship. Quality is our team’s key word of this quarter. Producing 4,000 orders and ramping up manufacturing while maintaining quality will take several months. To manage your expectations appropriately: this means that the delivery of your Omni is likely still several months away. We are working with our manufacturing partners to put together an accurate production schedule. We will communicate this schedule to you as soon as available, so that you know exactly when to expect your Omni. Any next shipping date you receive from us will be for your specific order!

FAQ

We’d like to address a few common questions that we received from you since our unveiling of the Omni last month:

What is the purpose of the Omni “deck” (the step in front of the Omni)?

The purpose of the Omni deck is twofold: safety and stability. The deck has a rubberized surface that provides grip for the user when entering and exiting the Omni while wearing the low-friction Omni shoes. Additionally, the deck covers a metal frame that is an extension of the Omni’s metal endo-skeleton, which provides stability and eliminates wobbling of the Omni during use.

What are the dimensions of the final Omni design?

When fully assembled, the Omni platform is 49″ wide (incl. strut bases), 54″ long (incl. the step-up deck), and 35″ high (when the ring is in its lowest position). The ring and vertical struts are easily disassembled from the base.

New Website and Account Access

If you haven’t noticed yet, we launched our new website during CES.

Virtuix is in the process of transitioning our previous online user account system to our new online platform and converting all existing orders and accounts. You will receive an email with your new login and password when we’re finished. Note that you won’t have access to your account in the meantime. Thank you for bearing with us during this transition period.

VR Industry Developments

Microsoft has announced its entrance into the AR/VR space with Project Hololens, a headmounted holographic display that is similar to Magic Leap.

Hewlett-Packard is also entering the VR space and announced Zvr, a virtual reality display.

Samsung’s Gear VR is now available at Best Buy.

Razer’s OSVR headset was well received at CES 2015 and provides an open-source alternative to the Oculus Rift for only $199; Virtuix is part of the OSVR open-source initiative.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has revealed ‘mind-boggling’ plans to bring basketball fans closer to the action and increase their engagement in the sport through virtual reality.

Cinematic VR was big at Sundance this past month, and even Oculus is releasing five animated movies this year.

Entrepreneur lists Virtual Reality as the number one start-up trend that will be huge in 2015.

Friends, this is an exciting yet hectic time for us as we come closer to delivering a truly unprecedented virtual reality product. We appreciate your continued patience and support.

As always, please join our Forums for immediate updates and discussions: http://forum.virtuix.com

Best regards,

Jan and the Virtuix team