On my last day at AWE, one of the most interesting hands-on sessions that I had was with XelerateVR, a treadmill to walk in VR. It was not in the list of things that I wanted to try, but my friend Marcus advised me to have a look, and I have to say that it was a great suggestion. Let me tell you in this article why I’ve found it special!
[Disclaimer: I’ve tried the device only for a few minutes, so this article should be considered as a first impression post and not as a full-fledged review.]
XelerateVR
XelerateVR is a treadmill that lets you walk in real life to walk in VR. I guess you are aware of products like Kat VR or Virtuix Omni: this is exactly in the same category. You are harnessed to a machine, and then you can walk on a concave surface to walk in VR. Since the surface is concave and lets your feet slip on it, when you take a step forward with a foot, the inclination makes that foot slowly return back to its initial position at the center of the platform, so that you can keep doing the walking movement by staying still in the same place. On paper, all seems great, but in practice, the truth is that when we walk, we do not have feet slipping on the floor, so on these devices, usually, you have the impression of “walking on ice”. For this reason, some people do not even call these products “treadmills”, but “slipmills”.
As you can see from the following pictures, the shape of the Xelerate machine is very similar to other competitor products. You can clearly spot the floor, the rotating harness, and the spring to let you crouch.
Setup
The procedure to go on the Xelerate VR is similar to other treadmills: I had to remove my shoes and wear some special slippery shoes that were provided by my company. Then I had to go on the surface, being careful not to slip-fall-to-the-floor-and-die while stepping on it. After that, the people at the booth secured me to the central structure of the machine using a few straps that were closed very tightly on my torso. This basically completed the setup procedure.
I could then start taking confidence with the walking surface and start having my first steps on it.
Walking
There is something I haven’t told you yet about the walking surface on the XelerateVR machine yet: it is not a simple surface, but it is made of many metallic spheres that are free to rotate. These spheres are not active like in Disney’s Holotile floor, but are passive, and while the foot that is walking is slipping down because of the gravity, they rotate and facilitate this movement. This is the biggest innovation that this startup is proposing.
You may think that this doesn’t make a difference, but actually, to me, it did. I immediately gained confidence with the walking movement on XelerateVR as soon as I jumped on the machine. I started walking, and very soon also running. I think this floor made by little spheres made the movement of my feet much faster.
It’s hard for me to explain the sensation, but it is like I felt to have better control of my feet than with some other systems. As you can see, after a few minutes on the machine, I was just freely rotating and moving my feet in all directions: I could dance, I could do whatever I wanted. It was like I had full control of the situation, and this was great. You can clearly see this in the video below
I could also jump and crouch. I have to say, though, that trying to walk while staying crouched was not the most comfortable thing ever. I felt better doing that when I tried the KAT VR.
In general, I can’t say that the walking sensation was fully natural, because, as it happens with all these products, you always feel like you have your feet slipping. But I can say that I felt really comfortable with the walking movement on this device. That’s why I immediately started running on it.
I also felt like I was bending my torso less than with other similar products, but then re-watching the videos from the event, I’ve noticed that I was actually bending my chest forward. But I never had the impression I could fall down or something like that, meaning that I had some more stability.
Walking in VR
After having tried the device as is, I asked to try using it with a VR game. I do not know why all the companies producing treadmills always put me in Skyrym VR (exactly like all people doing VR walking shoes put me in hangars with planes), but that’s the thing that happened also with XelerateVR.
Before running the demo, they put some Vive Ultimate trackers on my feet and a headset on the head. I asked why they are using the Vive trackers to detect the walking movement, and they are not just taking the rotational data of the metallic spheres on the floor. A company spokesperson told me that when you start the walking movement, you raise your foot, and this initial movement can’t be detected by sensors on the floor. So if you only rely on them, you can only detect the start of the walking movement when that foot touches the floor again, so basically after the first step. This would produce a huge lag in the detection, which would cause discomfort to the users. Having the trackers on the feet ensures that the walking detection is very reactive.
Trying Skyrim, I felt the walking detection to be very reactive. I was moving more or less at the speed that I wanted, meaning that the movement in VR was matching quite well with the walking action in the real world. I did find it a bit uncomfortable walking backwards, though, so if I needed to get back, for instance during a combat, I preferred to rotate 180° and walk forward again.
Price and availability
XelerateVR is currently sold as an enterprise-oriented device, for a price around €7,000. It is expected to launch a consumer version next year (2026) for “less than 2K”.
XelerateVR – Final Impressions
XelerateVR is a VR treadmill solution that lets you walk in real life to walk in VR. It is not a product that creates a new category, but it introduces an interesting innovation that is a floor that is very slippery and so it can guarantee you more control on your feet. Walking on it is not fully natural, but it’s enjoyable, and it is also very easy to learn. That’s why I’ve found it to be an interesting device.