Running Tube presents a unique physical controller for a novel Virtual Reality game. The controller consists of a hollow physical tube with physical balls inside it. The player holds the tube horizontally using both hands and can tilt it to different angles, with the balls rolling freely inside the tube, according to the tilt. The Running Tube game was designed specifically to require titling and balancing actions. As opposed to other VR experiences in which the controller is an input mechanism and the only output is computer-generated, our physical balls create inherent feedback to the tilt. We view the perceptual gap between the VR world and the tangible experience as a design space. The research goal of Running Tube is to explore the experience of the perceptual gap between the sensation of the physical balls and the representation of the virtual ones, within a playful context.

 

Orli Trublenkov, Laura Staulz, Bat Sheva Horowitz, Jedidaya Van Essen, Shachar Geiger, Michal Rinott.

An Experiment in Tangible Virtual Reality

Running Tube presents a unique physical controller for a novel Virtual Reality game. The controller consists of a hollow physical tube with physical balls inside it.