Compact Motion Simulator ‘Yaw VR’ Reaches Kickstarter Funding Goal

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Claiming to be “the world’s most compact and affordable VR motion simulator,” Yaw VR is a 3DoF motion system using a spherical dome design that allows for unlimited, 360-degree yaw movement and 50 degrees across the horizontal axes. The project just surpassed its $150,000 crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter.

Update (02/08/18): Yaw VR has just surpassed its ‘do-or-die’ crowdfunding goal. No stretch goals have been announced yet, but we’ll be following the campaign as it moves forward.

Original article (12/22/18): Designed and developed by Hungary-based startup Intellisense, the Yaw VR delivers 3DoF motion cues via a seat that fits neatly inside a spherical dome, whose smooth outer surface is ‘rolled’ around using small electric motors. This approach avoids the use of expensive linear actuators found in high-end motion systems, and results in a lightweight unit (33 lbs) that can fold neatly away for storage. Its $890 ‘early bird’ price and $1190 ‘standard’ price could hardly be considered impulse-buy territory for the average home VR user, but these appear to be competitive figures in an inherently expensive category of devices.

‘Affordable’ mechanical equipment tends to make compromises in certain aspects of durability and performance, but the claimed figures of the Yaw VR sound promising. Intellisense demonstrated a prototype at CES 2018 that was capable of handling a user “at least up to 150kg” (330 lbs) with performance of “120 degrees/sec with 40% of max power.” The system can support heights “up to 180-190cm,” (5’11” – 6’3”) and a larger ‘XXL’ version is planned. A more durable ‘Pro’ version is also expected to ship with the standard Yaw VR in August.

Image courtesy Intellisense

The team recently confirmed the development of steering wheel, pedal, and shifter mounts, as the system is compatible with SimTools software and therefore a huge library of existing driving, flight, and space simulators will be supported. For wired peripherals, users can set a limit on the vertical axis to avoid a tangled mess of cables.

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“I don’t know yet if Yaw VR will be suitable for hard-core racing games,” wrote Zsolt Szigetlaki, founder and angel investor of Yaw VR, contributing to a recent Reddit discussion. “What I experienced is that the simulator has great dynamics, on half of the full power it could just throw me away easily. In the next couple of weeks we are working on to finalize the driving control and we will upload some car racing videos.”

There are obvious similarities to the Feel Three motion system first seen in 2014, which has yet to launch its Kickstarter campaign, but the Yaw VR has more emphasis on compact dimensions and portability. Perhaps 2018 is the year of the dome-shaped motion sim?

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The trial version of Microsoft’s Monster Truck Madness probably had something to do with it. And certainly the original Super Mario Kart and Gran Turismo. A car nut from an early age, Dominic was always drawn to racing games above all other genres. Now a seasoned driving simulation enthusiast, and former editor of Sim Racer magazine, Dominic has followed virtual reality developments with keen interest, as cockpit-based simulation is a perfect match for the technology. Conditions could hardly be more ideal, a scientist once said. Writing about simulators lead him to Road to VR, whose broad coverage of the industry revealed the bigger picture and limitless potential of the medium. Passionate about technology and a lifelong PC gamer, Dominic suffers from the ‘tweak for days’ PC gaming condition, where he plays the same section over and over at every possible combination of visual settings to find the right balance between fidelity and performance. Based within The Fens of Lincolnshire (it’s very flat), Dominic can sometimes be found marvelling at the real world’s ‘draw distance’, wishing virtual technologies would catch up.
  • daveinpublic

    I thought it would have more backers by now. I think the price is a little high. It’s like $900 for early bird, and $1,200 for standard. They should try to find a way to cut the costs down for themselves.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Yeah, It’s way to pricey. They should look for a way to make it more cheap.

  • Adrian Meredith

    Wow that’s actually pretty cool but at nearly three times the price of the actual vr headset it’s doa

  • As I’ve said to Zsolt myself, I find it very interesting for arcades or other enterprise usages and obviously not so great for the general consumer (it is too expensive)

  • VRgameDevGirl

    If i was into flight or racing sims…. I would buy this.

    • johngrimoldy

      Agreed. I think this would also work well for coaster sims. It’s almost enough to get me into racing sims. The price would need to come down considerably, but it needs to start somewhere in the still-in-its-infancy VR world.

      I can certainly appreciate the ability to tilt in any direction. I’m a little puzzled by what the center-axis rotation would simulate. Perhaps driving a tank? Still, this looks incredibly well designed and I’m sure it’s a blast.

      • Gus Bisbal

        So what kind of price would you want it to be in a realistic world. In other words, What is it worth to you that you feel is worth the investment as a casual user?

        • Ethan James Trombley

          I would go as high as 399. For mass adoption they’d need to get it no higher than 249 I would think. They prolly spent an incredible amount on R&D though.

          • Gus Bisbal

            So you want motors that can move the weight of the human body in a precise co-ordinated manner. A structure that supports the human body under motion with some G and the electronics that run it, for less than the price of a second hand graphics card that is not even a good card? Have a look at low end tread mills. A normal low end tread mill. Nothing special just a conveyor belt with a bog standard motor and two hand rails with a piece of crap speed display. That is your minimum, right there. And that only has one motor and it doesn’t have fine control like a motion platform.

          • Caven

            Oh, and I really need the treadmill manufacturer to offer me the option of installing an upgrade kit on my old treadmill, or accept my old treadmill as trade-in.

          • Ethan James Trombley

            Yes, I do. The movement is handled by three small motors powering the wheels used to rotate the device. Supporting weight is nothing difficult to handle. I would be shocked if after taking R&D out this cost them more than 200 to produce.

          • Ethan James Trombley

            Also GPUs are used much more than the vast majority of people would use this. It’s not a bad niche item at it’s price, but if it doesn’t hit the prices stated above it will never be mainstream. Keep in mind my comment is relative because VR isn’t even near being mainstream at this point. I would bet you could get this exact product 3 years from now at $399 tops.

          • kool

            Too fiddy aint gonna happen.

          • Ethan James Trombley

            Yeah there’s no way at the moment, but possibly in 3-5 years. I would hope at least.

        • johngrimoldy

          Like Ethan, I’d go up to about $400. That’s me though, with my level of disposable income. I think their pricing at this point is reasonable, given the presumably enormous initial costs. It’s just out of my range. I still think this is really neat and would love to try it.

    • John Horn

      FeelThree will (if it ever comes out) have slots for HOTAS flight stick, and more robust build.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        The Yaw seems to be based on the same principle.

      • brubble

        This is IMO an integral feature for such a device.

      • duked

        Yaw VR will also have slots for flight sticks, etc.

  • flamaest

    I saw this at CES and spoke to the designers at their booth in the Sands halls. I informed them that their price was extremely high for the regular-Joe consumer market, considering that their solution is more simple than the competition. They were determined to maintain their price point, and here we are with a DOA kick-starter.

    Any significantly good virtual reality technology should easily sell out of its early birds within a day or two. I don’t see this happening with this Kickstarter.

    Good luck.

    • Harry Cox

      lol

  • Jason Mercieca

    Mmm, as said its way too expensive, most people (im one of them) would prefer to keep that cash for the next hmd comming out, after all i really think accessories should never be more expensive than the main product (hmd), its like a car cost u 12000 but the air conditioning extra alone is 20000, anyways i do hope price comes down by A LOT…

  • WyrdestGeek

    It looks neat, but it costs far too much. I can’t even afford a computer to run Rift or Vive.

    Not gonna spend $1000 on a 3dof thing.

    If they can find a way to partner with companies that make games for arcades, maybe they can stay in business.

  • I’d like to see this actually work with a 300lb man. From the materials it appears to be made of, I have serious doubts. I can’t help but to notice the guy using it was about 6 inches taller then the tiny girl who also used it.

    • Donna

      Gℴℴgle is offereing to each its worker 98 US dollars every hour to do some small tasks off a home computer .. Easily do work only for just few peroid of time daily & live happy more time with your loved ones … You can also have this online service…on Friday I bought a gorgeous Citroën DS after I been earnin $14625 this-past/five weeks .no doubt it is the best job however you can now not forgive yourself if you don’t test it.!ve732z:=>=>=> http://GoogleDailyConsumerAppleTechJobsOpportunities/easy/jobs ♥♥♥k♥♥♥l♥♥e♥♥♥a♥f♥c♥♥t♥♥w♥♥♥g♥♥d♥♥g♥♥e♥♥b♥♥♥d♥♥♥n♥♥♥k♥y♥♥♥x♥♥♥y♥l♥♥g♥v♥♥q♥♥t♥♥j:::::!bw992i:chg

    • kool

      300 is asking a bit much, 225 maybe but i doubt itll do 200.

  • Get Schwifty!

    As if people doing VR didn’t look ridiculous enough already ;)

  • LarZen

    It’s still early days for VR. So this is something that the early and hardcore adopters will maybe consider. But for those that are just now jumping in when prices are slowly starting to get sensible I cant see that buyer even consider picking this up at that price.

    To expensive and to unclear how support will be in the time ahead. If it had been cheap then more would take the plunge.

  • oompah

    wow
    but is not 130$
    my limit

    • Rayza

      lol

  • Bluedoggy

    I like it a lot. Woud be great if you could attach buttkickers to it for added immersion. Not sure it would take the weight of the average American though.

  • victor

    Does not look very confortable. No back support

  • RockstarRepublic

    Good concept, needs a better design for comfort and even range of movement.

  • Rayza

    looks ridiculous and like it would probably make me feel sick

  • duked

    I find this product very interesting, should really improve the VR experience and reduce motion sickness for those of us that are willing to invest in VR. It’s very inexpensive – the competition is, what, $300 000?

  • NooYawker

    Does anyone believe that 150k is enough to finish the R&D alone?

  • Mane Vr

    wow this is great new i am a seated only vr gamer and this wil be a great add on to my setup

  • HomeAudio

    In price higher than 500$ – they will not sell to much of this devices. Actually I am starting to think about building something like that by myself (it should not be hard and definitly cheeper) – only problem can be software part – to integrate it with currently existing software solutions for VR :/

  • Julian Jarecki

    Original article (12/22/18) <- I find it hard to believe that this date is acurate ^^

  • daveinpublic

    Good for them! Wish more people would attempt to take their visions and make them real products.

  • Congrats to him! It is a great result having reached the funding goal!

  • Leo Richard Comerford

    Roto VR http://www.rotovr.com/ is another alternative that deserves mention. It’s less ambitious as a motion simulator, but better as a chair, and it’s apparently a lot closer to being a real shipping product.

  • arczi79

    Extremely good concept. Unfortunately It is a little too pricey for me…