Since the advent of VR, one of the biggest technical challenges to overcome has been locomotion. For some VR users, the sensation that their bodies are stationary in the real world but moving within VR can lead to motion sickness. For this reason, nearly all games offer a teleportation option, allowing users to "blink" to a spot in the game without having to move through the virtual space.

However, there is another issue of momentum. When moving around in a physical space set up for VR, such as a living room or office, one can inadvertently step off and hit a wall or piece of furniture from the face and injure oneself. (Not to mention damaging walls, furniture, windows, doors, spectators, pets, or even VR gear.) And even if I pay attention to the boundary warnings and don't crash into things, I find myself constantly having to bring myself back to the center of the VR area because I have strayed from the boundary.

Ekto VR attempts to solve both of these problems simultaneously, and the way it does so can be summed up in these two wonderful words.

Ekto's VR boots (called Ecto One) allow you to physically walk to propel yourself in VR, but the really cool thing is that when you are taking physical steps in the robotic boots, you are not physically moving around the room you are in! . The boots allow you to walk in place using what I consider to be a form of robotic magic.

It may be easier to see than to read, so here is a person playing Half-Life: A person playing Alyx in VR has large robotic boots attached to their feet. They are stepping in reality and moving within the space of VR, but you can see that they are actually moving very little with respect to physical distance:

It is quite neat to watch. When you lift one foot and step forward, the boot rolls backward almost the same amount as the foot you stepped out of. It is almost as if you are walking on a treadmill or moonwalking. The player moves in steps in the game, but not so much in reality.

However, I feel that there is a rather significant drawback. Namely, the VR is even more unobtainable than it already was, since a lot of VR gear is strapped to the feet as well as the head.

You can also see that you are walking very slowly and carefully, but there are many situations in "Half-Life": in Alyx (and in many VR games), there are many situations where taking many large, slow steps is not a natural reaction. If you need to be surprised or startled, if you need to move quickly in combat, or if you actually need to crouch, kneel, or even crawl around on the floor, it's going to be very difficult when you have giant robo-boots strapped to your human feet. The boots also appear to make the person much taller, which could also cause disorientation and make it difficult for the person to determine where the floor is (the real floor, not the virtual floor).

It would also be difficult to correct his posture by quickly stuttering and stepping with his boots on when he loses his balance. Gears on the head, controllers in both hands, robot boots on the feet ....... It won't be a pretty scene.

You can't get your hands on the Ecto One boots yet; UploadVR says consumer sales are two to four years away.