Today, I worked on developing an OpenVR driver in that turns my manual treadmill into a SteamVR controller by converting my speed into movement on the joystick’s forward axis.

I took it for a spin in Skyrim VR and it really makes you appreciate the massive scale of the game!

Here is a closer look at the two IR reflectance sensors (QRE1113) I used to reliably detect alternating black-and-white tape stripes. The sensor outputs were processed by an ESP32, which sends the rotation count to Unity via UDP, where the actual speed (m/s) is then calculated.

Endless Runner in VR?
For my first project of the year, I turned an old manual treadmill into a VR peripheral and developed a procedurally-generated 'Endless Runner'-prototype.
Turns out, an endless runner isn’t so endless when you have to do the running yourself!💀