VR is witnessing a substantial growth in its implementation due to growing compactness of devices as well as the availability of various gaming options. Safety of users playing games in VR is a big concern for technology and video game companies. So much so, that industry players throughout the world are increasingly working towards improving safety of users while they are playing VR games.

One such move towards this goal recently came to light when Microsoft Corporation, the global tech giant headquartered in Washington, reportedly applied for a patent for a vibrating floor mat which would help players in VR gaming. The patent described the floor mat to be a computing device which could help users avoid colliding with objects while playing.

This VR-enabled floor mat would deal with a real-world issue faced by many VR users. VR provides an immersive experience by completely blocking out the player’s surroundings. While the VR experience is impressive, the user is still confined in a compact space, surrounded by tables, walls, furniture as well as other objects in a house. Blocking out all such objects from sight while playing VR increases the collision risk while moving.    

In the patent application filed to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently, Microsoft has called this computing device as “virtual reality floor mat activity region”.  

Microsoft’s floor mat would possibly hold a bevy of tech which would be able to influence the VR experience of a user, while also keeping them safe from the risks arising due to surrounding furniture.

Microsoft’s floor mat has built-in “spatially distributed pressure sensors” and “fiducial markers”. These markers and sensors would further communicate with VR console in order to identify a user’s physical location over the floor mat, this data could further be utilized accordingly to form the virtual world around user.

Many VR gamers have started using rubber floor mats to prevent themselves from accidentally colliding with objects while playing. Reports cite, in 2017 a VR gamer in Russia died after falling through a nearby glass table.

According to verified resources, one idea of floor mat could be offered as interlocking floor tiles, that would further enable users to add some surrounding tiles to the square footage of the mat in case the user is not having enough space.

While the patent application by Microsoft has not been confirmed by any means, it still does make the vibrating floor mat a very real possibility.

Source credit: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/microsofts-files-patent-application-for-a-possible-vibrating-floor-mat-for-vr-gaming-4508451.html