This surreal VR simulator lets you fly and float in space (while laying down)

The prototype exosuit lets those in VR experience what it would be like to fly – its creators say there could be a military use

04 Jan 2017

As virtual reality slowly becomes a mainstream technology, more peripherals to control movement and enhance the experience are being developed. Most are small controllers you hold in the hand but the latest goes one big jump further.

The Hypersuit lets you fly through virtual worlds, visit space and more while laying on a giant exosuit with your arms spread out. Created by a French team of engineers and computer scientists the simulator, which has been unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, can be completely controlled by arm movements.

While on the simulator and with a virtual reality headset strapped to your face an arm movement to the right will move the in-game character in that direction, while pulling the arm to the left will steer you that way. The arms of the machines are "designed to simulate every human gesture accurately," its creators say.

When demoed at CES the Hypersuit used a HTC Vive to run its simulations, which included a base jump, cosmonaut experience and also a super hero experience. To enhance the feeling of being in a different world a small fan was put in front of the machine and blows air onto the wearer's head.

The machine has been built by Paris-based Theory, which describes itself as a hardware and software company. The firm says the Hypersuit is "the safest way to experience the extreme".


For now, the Hypersuit is a prototype device and is unlikely to be going on sale at any point soon. Although, its creators have said the device could one day be used to train pilots in the military.