Fit Immersion technology allows you to ride an exercise bike while being immersed on real tracks – Fit Immersion
- During his mission in the ISS, the international space station, Thomas Pesquet will use the technology developed by the Hérault-based company Fit Immersion.
- This application allows you to pedal on an exercise bike, while being immersed, via a virtual reality headset, on real 360 ° tracks.
- This device is not reserved for astronauts: the general public can also afford the Fit Immersion application, which is adaptable to all types of bikes.
During his six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, Thomas Pesquet will (almost) ride his bike as if he were on Earth. The French astronaut, who takes off on April 22 aboard the Crew Dragon shuttle, will embark with him in space an astonishing device, developed by the Hérault company Fit Immersion : this application, which caught the eye of the CNES (National Center for Space Studies), allows, a virtual reality headset (an Oculus Quest) in front of the eyes, to pedal while being immersed on well-terrestrial roads.
We travel in the streets of Paris, St. Petersburg, Russia, and on the Col de la Gineste, between Marseille and Cassis, “while we do our session on a training bike”, explains to 20 minutes Dimitri Prikhodko, the founder of Fit Immersion. These routes, which were specially selected for Thomas Pesquet, from among the fifteen available, were previously filmed in a real situation, at 360 °. And for the illusion to be perfect, pedals equipped with sensors also allow these images to be synchronized with the pace that the astronaut will take.
” This is completely crazy “
That this technology takes off with Thomas Pesquet is a dream for this young start-up. “We didn’t expect it at all,” says the entrepreneur. One morning, we received an email from CNES, it happened like that. It’s completely crazy to see your application go into space! »But Thomas Pesquet (whose experimentation is visible on the website of the European Space Agency) is not the only one who can take advantage of this immersive technology. It is compatible with all bikes, even ellipticals: the general public, too, can afford a Fit Immersion pack, to explore prestigious routes, while staying in their living room. It costs 199 euros with a virtual reality headset to fit on your Android smartphone, and 599 euros with a stand-alone headset.
“We initially developed this solution for sports halls,” continues the entrepreneur, whose start-up, created in Montpellier, is incubated in Béziers. Then, since the first confinement, we turned to sports at home. The application allows, for the most competitive, to measure the evolution of heart rate and speed, and a virtual coach is in support, to accomplish the objective of the program.
It was his personal experience that a few years ago gave the idea to Dimitri Prikhodko, who practices high-level athletics, to create this application. “I really hate the exercise bike,” he smiles. But, I am, sometimes, obliged to do so. By discovering the technology of virtual reality, I realized that it was possible to invent something to make this practice a little more fun! He didn’t know, yet, that his idea was going to fly more than 400 km above the Earth.