This Virtual Reality Rig Lets You Game and Work out at the Same Time

If you’ve ever felt like escaping to another world while going through the same tired motions in the gym, the future is looking a little brighter with the Icaros home gym, designed and created by German design lab HYVE. While only a concept product, the Icaros offers an appealing alternative in that, when paired with a virtual reality headset, the user could be doing anything from exploring deep space, flying over rainforests, or diving in a coral reef in their mind, while the Icaros allows you to control your flight path and maintain balance with body movements. In addition to the VR goggles, a smartphone is attached to the rig to measure the pitch and angle of your movements, which is then relayed to a PC app to generate the VR graphics. Icaros developer Johannes Scholl calls this new form of workout “bodytainment,” saying that “while doing your left/right and up/down moves, you train primarily shoulders and back. Also, your abs and your lateral abdominal muscles are trained intensively.” With a crowdfunding campaign in the works for this summer, the future of the virtual reality home gym is closer than you think.