Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics have developed a new kind of motion simulator that may rival even the best of gimbaled configurations out there.

cable winch virtual reality motion simulator, greatest VR flight simulator rig of all time

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen

The revolutionary motion simulator is based on a system of high speed winches and cables and requires a large room (essentially a warehouse) to operate.

The user wears a VR headset (such as an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive) while sitting inside of an icosahedron cage made of carbon fiber tubes.

cable winch virtual reality motion simulator, greatest VR flight simulator rig of all time

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen

cable winch virtual reality motion simulator, greatest VR flight simulator rig of all time

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen

Winches and pulleys are situated in all corners of the room and steel cabling suspends the rig in mid air. The user’s analog motion inputs are processed into computer-controlled movements that signal to the winches how much steel cable to simultaneously release/retract based on the user’s position in 3D space.

The motion rig is capable of yaw, pitch, roll as well as linear movements with G forces of up to 1.5 G. Just imagine turning on your afterburners in-game and ACTUALLY feeling a real g-force acceleration as your fighter jet climbs to a constant speed. Amazing stuff, we hope these kind of SIMs grain more traction and somehow become accessible to the general public.

cable winch virtual reality motion simulator, greatest VR flight simulator rig of all time

Imagine Feeling Acceleration G-Forces While In-game