Kickstarter

Introducing Ground Control, a 4-axis foot joystick that allows you to offload virtual locomotion (among other things) to your feet in a simple, relaxed way.  No need to run on a treadmill or strap a bunch of sensors to your body.  And best of all, no need to dedicate a room of your home to VR (unless you want to).

With Ground Control your hands are free to use whatever gamepad, motion controller or hand tracking system you feel is right for you.  And you can enjoy a complete VR experience (look, move & interact) for hours on end without exhausting yourself.  And when you're done, you can easily store everything out of the way.

Our patent pending design gives you the full range of inputs required to navigate a virtual environment.  The movements are simple, natural and easy on the body.

The future of VR locomotion is here!  Help us bring it to the world!

Resolution Media was kind enough to come by our booth at the SXSW Gaming Expo.

 SouthXMRM was also nice enough to come by and talk to us.

Fabio from RedeTV! in Brazil stopped by the booth and got some great footage.

A video montage of our SXSW experience.

Ground Control is essentially no different than any other analog joystick, except that's designed for feet instead of hands and it has more axis to work with.  Like other joysticks, simply holding it in a particular direction will produce the desired result.

This is how it works with our current VR locomotion control scheme:

Axis 1: Sliding the foot pad forward will move you forward, sliding the foot pad backward will move you backwards.

Axis 2: Sliding the foot pad left or right will strafe you in that direction.

Axis 3: Rotate the foot pad left or right to turn in that direction.

Axis 4: Tilt the foot pad forward to jump or tilt it back to crouch.

While Ground Control will be completely usable with a single foot pad, the experience is significantly improved using one under each foot.

With our VR locomotion control scheme the axis values are averaged across the two footpads.  This means that if one foot pad is in the neutral position and the other is slid all of the way forward you would move forward at 50% speed.  If both foot pads are slid all of the way forward you would move forward at 100% speed.  This makes it very easy to perform fine-grain movements.

During the prototyping process we also found that performing the same action with both feet is the most natural.  Particularly when first learning to use it.  And once the movements have been mastered (usually about 5 minutes) it enables incredibly accurate locomotion.

Our focus up to this point has been on the PC.  Ground Control registers to Windows as a standard game controller.  This means that it will work with a lot of existing content right out of the box.

We will be including a configuration tool that will allow you to completely change how Ground Control behaves.  For backwards compatibility it will be possible to have it send mouse and keyboard commands instead of joystick commands.  This will allow it to work with almost all existing games.

We will also be reaching out to VR content makers in the coming months to discuss native support.  We believe that content makers will do very interesting things with access to 8 axis (4 per foot).

We are still in the process of evaluating other platforms.  The Playstation is top on our list given Sony's plan to release a headset of their own.  Please let us know what other platforms you would like to see it work with.

The Ground Control package includes a small control box which is responsible for collecting and transmitting the axis data.  The foot pads are plugged into the control box and the control box connects to a computer or console through standard USB.

This modular approach of separating out the main electronics enables us to offer upgraded control boxes down the road without requiring the purchase of new foot pads.

Prototyping began about a year and a half ago.  After five generations of home-made prototypes Colpitts Design was brought in to transform Ground Control from a concept into a manufacturable product.  The current results of that collaboration are the demo units we brought to the SXSW Gaming Expo and have on display here.  While the demo units are not perfect, they do prove that the core mechanics work exactly as intended.  And the fact that all four of the demo units we brought to SXSW were still working after 3 days of continuous use, by over 1000 people, proves that the design is extremely durable.  Throughout the design process care has been taken to ensure that all of the parts are mould-able, which means we can start making the moulds, and subsequently start production, as soon as the last couple of features are added and tested.

Aside from generally fine-tuning the design, we still need to finalize the electronics and to add three features that we know need to be part of the final product.

    1. Securing the foot

Ensuring that your foot stays on the center of the pad is obviously an important aspect of the product.  We have been evaluating a number of potential solutions, such as grip tape and Velcro straps.  The challenge is in providing the best experience for everyone, in all situations.  We believe that the only way to do it is to provide options.  Our product plan calls for interchangeable foot pad surfaces, allowing us to offer a wide range of different solutions at a very low cost.  We are working to show you prototypes with this feature implemented before the end of the campaign.

    2. Spring return

The current prototypes do not return to center on their own.  But the prototypes were built with spring return in mind and we therefore expect to have this feature in place before the end of the campaign. 

    3. Finding center

While wearing a VR headset looking at your feet is not really an option.  With the final version of Ground Control you will be able to feel where the center point is.  We haven't settled on an exact solution yet, but you will feel a groove or click when the foot pad reaches the center point.

We are considering other features as potential stretch goals.  Tell us what features you'd like to see in the comments section.

When we looked at the market for VR locomotion we found that the existing, and upcoming, offerings only covered the extremes.  On one end there's thumb joysticks, simple yet not very immersive.  On the other end there's treadmills and full-body motion tracking, high on space requirements and physical strain.  So we started work on a product that targeted the middle ground.  A product that would enable a highly immersive experience, but was still practical for the home user.

The biggest thing we need the money for is the creation of the moulds. With the size of some of the parts for the foot pads, the moulds will be very expensive.  Funding of the first production run is the other big expense.  Beyond those two we just need a small amount of money to finish the design.

We've gone as far as we can on our own.  The company exists, the patent is filed and the core design has been proven.  Your support is what we need to get the rest of the way to market.

    $5 - SUPPORT

At this pledge level you will receive regular updates on our progress and our unending gratitude.

    $210 - EARLY BIRD

* Shipping will be collected after the campaign. See below for details. *

At this discounted, and limited, pledge level you will receive a complete Ground Control unit, which includes two foot pads and a control box, fresh off the production line.

    $230 - EARLY BIRD 2

* Shipping will be collected after the campaign. See below for details. *

At this discounted, and limited, pledge level you will receive a complete Ground Control unit, which includes two foot pads and a control box, fresh off the production line.

    $250 - STANDARD

* Shipping will be collected after the campaign. See below for details. *

At this pledge level you will receive a complete Ground Control unit, which includes two foot pads and a control box, fresh off the production line.

    $700 - PRE-PRODUCTION

* Shipping will be collected after the campaign. See below for details. *

At this special, and limited, pledge level you will receive a hand-built pre-production Ground Control unit (two foot pads and a control box) before the product goes into production.  You will be able to provide us with valuable feedback that could impact the final design.

You will also receive a complete production Ground Control unit, which includes two foot pads and a control box.

Due to the fluctuations in the cost of worldwide shipping we will not be collecting shipping during the campaign.  It is very important to note that the listed pledge amounts do not include shipping.

As we get close to the shipping date we will send all backers an invite to our pledge manager, where you will be charged exactly what it will cost for shipping.  This ensures that no one is overpaying and that we don't go bankrupt underestimating the cost.

We plan to use distribution centers in at least Canada, US and EU.  We will do our best to ship locally wherever possible by adding additional distribution centers at need.  But please note that we can't guarantee local delivery to everyone.

Personal Kickstarter Profile

www.colpittsdesign.com

And all of this wouldn't have been possible without the unending support of friends and family.  Thank you all so much!