Space Treadmill
this week i started going to the gym in one of the buildings where i work. i like to run for 15 minutes to warm up, and since its winter i have to run on a treadmill.
running on a treadmill is so boring!
usually i stare at my reflection in the glass window in front of me and try to avoid looking at the timer, which always tells me i have more time remaining than i thought possible. time actually slows down when you’re on a treadmill.
nowadays treadmills have tv screens built into them, but the noise of the machine makes it hard to hear, and the small screen is difficult to focus on while running.
i know several companies are working to create vr technology advanced enough to eliminate the motion sickness that can come with navigating a digital environment, and as i’m running i wonder how the treadmill experience will change once they start hooking the machines up to vr technology.
if you run on a treadmill while using vr equipment you could choose to go for a run in a virtual environment that keeps you more engaged, just like how listening to music makes exercise more tolerable.
once everyone is on a vr treadmill the software could connect us in a shared virtual exercise space. if your workout clothes came with built-in sensors your avatar in the virtual space could wave to other people and they could see you waving. of course, since they would see your avatar not your real body that means they might see you waving a bear claw or a giant tentacle, but the idea is that body language in general would be possible.
i bet people will arrange to meet in the vr treadmill world to go on dates. and to visit virtual replicas of real places that they cant afford to visit. or to experience what it would be like to win a gold medal at the summer olympics.
millions of people walking in place but mentally spending that time interacting socially and exploring virtual worlds. and feeling better than ever because they are exercising.
when students have a vr treadmill at home hooked up to the school network, many of them will learn faster virtually vs. from reading text books. plus kids could stay in the same class with their friends even if they have to move to another town/state.
you could apply the same approach to a stationary bike. imagine instead of watching the tour de france on your phone you subscribed to the live feed from the helmet cam of one of the athletes and watched it while cycling in your basement.
you could apply the same approach to a rowing machine. instead of rowing in a crowded gym you find yourself navigating the canals of venice. or rowing across a lake you used to visit as a kid growing up. you could row past an island hosting an outdoor concert featuring your favorite artists playing the songs in your current gym playlist.
imagine going to those places every day on your lunch hour, and every night before you go to bed. it could become addictive.
imagine your favorite celebrity recording themselves doing a live aerobics or spin class so you can choose to have them there with you as your virtual trainer.
if we ever have our pick of virtual exercise worlds the first one I’d visit would be a replica of the gym at my work with computer-generated people on all the treadmills. and i’d push one of them off so i can use it. so maybe it will make us awful people.
orig. posted on December 9, 2015