Reaction Wheel Force Feedback for VR

April, 2024

I want to run down the street swinging a giant VR/MR/XR sword at a hoard of oncoming orcs.

This has been my dream for VR-type experiences since I can remember thinking about the realm of VR possibilities. I've played World of Warcraft, I've read Daniel Suarez' Daemon and Freedom™, I've seen swarms of grown men running around town playing Pokemon Go; I'm sure these have informed my desires.

As far as I can tell, everyone in the VR space is working on how to overlay graphics on the real world. But I haven't seen much on how to make a sword feel like a sword instead of something made out of a balloon.

For sure there will be other applications once this is solved, but swinging a sword in VR is the one I care about.

Self Balancing Cube

There are many projects you can find online for self-balancing cubes. The one that brought the space to my attention was made by Willem Pennings. I had never thought about using reaction control wheels in this way, but it's a really cool application. As Willem talks about in his post, they are often used for orienting satellites in space. What an appropriate analogue for force-feedback on VR controllers--generating forces on an unteathered object.

Reaction wheels will only be able to provide three degrees of force-feedback, the rotational degrees. It wont do anything if you're in VR trying to stab something solid (translation) instead of slicing something (rotation). Even if you're slicing, it won't be able to provide too much torque And this is a good thing, we don't want a code bug to cause broken wrists! You can see how this could eventually start to look like turning off the safety protocols on the holodeck.... But you'll be able to create a sense of momentum and drag on a VR sword, along with a physical force on the controller when someone or something else strikes your sword.

Community

I want this to exist but I don't want to build it or profit from it. To facilitate those ends, I've put up a simple forum for anyone interested to connect and share ideas. Good luck!!