Want a VR workout with real-world results? Shell out Dh36,700
tokyo — Johannes Scholl is betting virtual reality can keep people excited about working out.
Scholl’s startup, Munich-based Icaros, has developed a VR exercise machine that delivers a core workout by making it seem like users are flying and deep-ocean diving. About 200 gyms and entertainment centres from London to Tokyo have installed the machines, which cost about $10,000 (Dh36,730) after including shipping and other costs. A cheaper home version for about $2,000 is under development and could be unveiled around the start of next year.
“There’s no comparable thing you can do at a gym,” says Scholl, who co-founded Icaros in 2015 with fellow industrial designer Michael Schmidt.
The fitness industry has been trying for decades to make exercise less boring — from TVs embedded in treadmills to apps nudging users to stay on schedule — but technology has yet to find a cure for the monotony of working out. Scholl is part of nascent community that believes the addictive pull of video games combined with the immersive power of VR will do the trick.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based VirZOOM transforms bike machines into VR controllers that let gamers fly horses and drive Formula 1 cars. A Helsinki augmented reality startup overlays digital images onto rock-climbing walls, letting climbers play games or battle each other while ascending. More low-key solutions include home workouts built around VR archery, shooting and boxing games which enthusiasts say help people build upper-body strength and lose weight.
Proponents point to Pokemon GO as an example of technology spurring exercise. Less than a week after the app’s release last July, gamers were zig-zagging through neighbourhoods and parks around the world and organizing massive Pokemon-catching walking-tours in cities from Sydney to New York. The game persuaded the most enthusiastic users to walk 25 per cent more than usual, according to researchers at Stanford University and Microsoft. Fitness experts are skeptical that high-tech gadgets can get people to exercise more — or stick with it. Innovations such as underwater earphones and running shoes that automatically adjust tightness have largely failed to motivate the masses.
“A lot of this technology is being adopted by people who exercise already and not that much by people who are new to the game,” says Remco Polman, head of exercise and nutritional studies at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.
While Pokemon GO should be lauded for getting more people out and about, he says, gamifying exercise won’t necessarily trick the brain into doing something the body resists. Rather than layering on gimmicks, he says finding a way to enjoy exercising itself — outdoors, for example — is key to sticking with it for a meaningful period of time.
“The problem with extrinsic motivation is that you only do it until the reward has been taken away,” Polman says. “Once you collect all your Pokemons, then what’s the reason to do anything more?”
Icaros’s Scholl doesn’t disagree and says some activities, like traditional sports, won’t work well in the virtual realm and should be done outdoors. But he thinks VR fitness can take people where they otherwise can’t go.
“I love road-biking and snowboarding, but I love to do that outside,” said Scholl.
“In VR, I love to do stuff which I always dreamed of but that I can’t do in reality.” — Bloomberg