You’ll be able to run, walk and jump in VR with this forthcoming controller

With an emerging field like virtual reality, ideas can often be roadblocks. Instead of preventing an idea from becoming a product, however, these barriers can become the product itself.
Peter Kojesta found this out first-hand.
A veteran of the video gaming industry who founded Exis Interactive, Kojesta started with an idea to develop a VR modeling application.
“I figured that I’d need my hands to work in the 3D modeling application, so I’d have to use my feet to get around,” Kojesta said. But there wasn’t tech to enable this, so solving the “movement problem” became necessary. It also became the team’s primary focus.
That’s where the idea for the SprintR controller came in. The team is developing a foot controller that allows users to walk, run and jump within the VR environment. It makes unprecedented movement possible in VR, and works with a headset such as an Oculus, and a mouse.
Having that movement could be key for video games, where handheld movement can often be unnatural, and even a little nauseating. Kojesta said it makes First Person Shooter games more viable in VR.

The SprintR is a spinout of Exis. Kojesta said the size of the Legg Mason Tower-based team varies, but a core group of six are working on it. The team has received $100,000 from TEDCO’s Technology Commercialization Fund to develop the project.
While working on prototypes, the team also took the controller to GDC (short for Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco.
Kojesta said the team hopes to have dev kits available in the coming months.