Supernatural VR

Maker

Hi PH community! Myself, co-founder Aaron Koblin, and the team at Within have been quietly building Supernatural for almost two years now. We started from a place of trying to solve a problem we had, and that many others we knew had as well. Exercise requires long-term commitment to see the benefits, but offers very little short-term enjoyment. The primary exercise modality we experienced with home digital connected fitness was copying the movements of an instructor on a screen. That's amazing if you can get into it and stick with it. We could not. We wanted to try to build Supernatural as a different kind of home exercise solution. We imagined something that could take all the things you love most about VR, music, sports, and immersive gaming, and combine that with what you appreciate about something like Peloton (new daily classes and trainers that motivate you to push harder), while magically eliminating the less fun parts (things like pedaling in place or stationary running). Virtual reality uniquely allows for a modality of home exercise that's fundamentally fun and something you actually look forward to doing every morning. It's similar to playing a sport you love, like snowboarding or tennis, but that sport is from the future, and it fits in your bedroom. We started with the beloved mechanics of VR rhythm games, we refined the movements with experts in kinesiology and biomechanics, worked with professional choreographers to create the movement maps you play to the music, and recruited top trainers to create and guide you through the full workouts. We consulted behavioral psychologists to help with ongoing exercise engagement, as the best exercise is always the one you keep doing. All the destinations you work out in are 3D volumetric photogrammetry models of the most beautiful destinations on earth. We forged deals with the biggest names in the music industry to bring the best music to your workouts on a daily basis. There is a companion app for iOS and Android, with Apple Watch, Android Gear, and other Bluetooth heart-rate sensor integration. Thanks so much for checking us out. We're offering a limited 30-day free trial, so if you've got an Oculus Quest, join us and experience it for yourself. We'd love to hear what you think. -Chris Milk (co-founder)

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5yr ago

Jesse Ezell

@chrismilk when is the app going live? Signed up, but the quest app doesn't seem to have been released yet, still says "coming soon" on the quest page and doesn't come up in the store via search.

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5yr ago

Lonny Kapelushnik

Tweet Reminder

I mean - nail meet hammer. I'm not a gamer so I've had no reason to purchase VR devices, even though I find it interesting from a tech POV. I'm also a big believer that AR will provide more utility to me. But this is clearly a use case I can get in to for VR. I am curious though: how do you receive feedback from the trainers?

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5yr ago

Lonny Kapelushnik

Tweet Reminder

BTW - I mean 'nail meet hammer' as in you nailed it, not in the 'everything looks like a nail to a hammer' kinda way. ;)

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5yr ago

Chris Milk

Supernatural VR

Maker

@lonnylot currently there is dynamic difficulty that adjusts to your ability in real-time to try to keep you in a flow state where you feel like you are mastering something just beyond what you should be able to do. The movement maps are calibrated to your personal range of motion. If you can only lunge so far to the right and all the way to the left, the system will adjust the workout to suit you. It also figures out your personal range of power and rewards you for hitting targets with force that makes sense for you. The coaches warm you up at the beginning standing in front of you, they then guide you through the workout by way of audio-only (you wouldn't want them as a visual as it'd be way too distracting). They remind you how to do some of the moves correctly, push you to try harder, and encourage you throughout. At the end they come back visually and do some sort of stretching or cool down. We are currently working on implementing the next system of dynamic interactive audio coaching, which will look for when you are doing something incorrectly and help adjust you back onto the right path.

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5yr ago

Jesse Ezell

I love VR workouts so I signed up, downloaded the app, put in my credit card, and was excited to try it out. Unfortunately, the app doesn't actually seem to be available in the Quest store yet.

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5yr ago

Chris Milk

Supernatural VR

Maker

@jesse_ezell thanks so much! It goes live in the Quest store this morning at 10am PT. Please let me know what you think!

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5yr ago

Jesse Ezell

@chrismilk Can't wait to try it out! Been doing BoxVR regularly during the lockdown. Will be nice to have some variety!

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5yr ago