10 Foot Diameter Virtu-Sphere Virtual Reality in Las Vegas

PopSci
The first public VirtuSphere was installed in Las Vegas at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in May 2010. If the venture proves profitable, expect similar VR spheres to pop up in arcades, amusement parks, shopping malls, and tourist traps across North America. High throughput virtual reality may well lead to continent-wide leagues of virtual reality sports. The VirtuSphere is in the lead now, but inventors are sure to come up with virtual competitors soon.

The 10-foot sphere is made of the same plastic as Legos, and its curvature helps to cushion players if they fall. The ball spins on a platform fitted with 45 caster-mounted wheels. Beneath, an optical sensor tracks motion the same way a computer mouse does, watching for relative movement across x and y axes. To make the experience truly immersive, the player is fitted with a head-mounted display with two internal LCD screens. A laptop wirelessly collects the data from the sensor and the gyroscopes, magnetometers and accelerometers on the headset to create the image the player sees.
As new spheres pop up in malls and arcades, users will be able to jump into movie trailers or globe-trot using Google Earth. _PopSci