Awesome simulator for virtual reality from the Max Planck Society

The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics has created a virtual reality room with simulated overloads. This is achieved using a cable system on which a chair is suspended from the user. Eight cables move the seat, causing the passenger to experience realistic overload. The size of the room in which all this happens is 5 m × 8 m × 5 m. You will have to work hard to fit a similar installation in the living room.

Some other similar simulators use rigid structures, which means a large mass of the entire structure. There are eight steel cables, each of which stretches to one and a half tons. Electric winches with a total capacity of 348 kW (473 hp) drive a cabin made of carbon fiber tubes - a durable but lightweight material. The weight of the cab frame is only 80 kilograms, but it easily withstands the tension of cables that threaten to break the thin structure. The diameter of the cabin is 260 centimeters, and there is enough space to place the necessary screens and other devices to create the illusion of a simulated process.



The cabin is driven by ropes, and due to this, the observer in the cabin experiences overloads of up to 1.5 g. The observer inside can receive a picture using a wireless helmet of virtual reality. (The design of the helmet shown in the video and the inscription hint that the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 is used.) The cabin is subject to six degrees of freedom: it can move and tilt. To ensure the functioning of the installation, the corresponding software was written.



The creators of the simulator believe that the installation can be widely used in various sectors of the simulation of human activity. The installation can become both the basis of a flight or driving simulator, and an apparatus for studying motion perception. In the chair can be both suffering from a disorder of the vestibular apparatus, and the future pilot.