Recently updated on November 6th, 2021 at 10:25 pm
 |
| Credit to Black Box VR |
Recently, there is news on a startup company that can solve the problem of people getting so lazy to go to gym or stop going after just few days or weeks. Or the problem of those getting easily bored by the routine in the gym. The virtual reality exercise solution provided by Black Box VR can help and assist to make the user become more engage or “addictive” with the workout. They claimed it as a fully immersive virtual reality gym experience. The aims is to make the gamers or the gym visitors more fit by mixing the fitness training with the fun side of VR.
How Does the Virtual Reality Exercise Work?
Well, first the user need to stand inside a box. A black box which measure around 8 x 8 feet. Like a bathroom size. Then, they need to wear a special motion tracking armbands. Next, they need to wear the headset. In this case, they use the HTC Vive headset. Once you are inside the virtual world, then you will compete against your virtual opponents that looks like a monster or giant creature. The duration is 30 minutes for each VR gym workout. Perhaps, the Youtube video from The Verge might able to make you understand it better…
To summarize, it is actually a dynamic resistance machine that pairs with the virtual reality.
So, is there any concern of using this kind of VR method to exercise? How we can measure its effectiveness? For your info, there is an organization called Virtual Reality Institute of Health and Exercise that is created to study the health impact of VR and AR by using scientifically reliable tools. They are working with the San Francisco State University’s Kinesiology department. Based from the study made by VR Health Institute, there is quite a significant and positive impacts of using VR exercise. For example, the great number of calories that has been burned when gamers playing Audioshield, a rhythmic VR game for the HTC Vive. Hope, it will do the same too for the Black Box VR.
Furthermore, Black Box VR has been awarded with the CES 2018 Innovation Awards Honoree recently. The guys behind this are Ryan DeLuca and Preston Lewis, their founder. They are also the one behind the successful “bodybuilding.com”.
It will open its first boutique gym soon in San Francisco this year. For the version to be used at home, we might need to wait for a while. Maybe sometime in future. Well, it looks like I might need one of those virtual reality exercise 😉
For more info, you can read it at:
1) The Official Website of Black Box VR.
2) “Black Box VR: CES 2018 Innovation Awards Honoree” from VR Fitness Insider.
3) “Black Box VR Brings Virtual Reality Fitness To The San Francisco Mass Market” from Forbes.
About Author
