This is the Telepod, a virtual reality effects chair created by Japanese hardware and software company Eje. The Telepod provides “bodysonic vibration,” similar to the vibrating seats in 4D theaters. You plug a cable into the headphone jack of a Gear VR or other device, and it pulses to match the audio of an experience, while feeding sound back out via a built-in pair of over-ear headphones.
Away, fools, and leave me to my VR egg
Adi Robertson
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
The Telepod’s gentle rumbling evokes the feeling of falling asleep in your parents’ car as a kid, except that you’re wearing goggles and watching a girl group perform songs in a language you don’t understand. It is difficult to overstate how soothing this is.
The chair is already on sale, but it costs $8,000, which effectively means it’s meant for public installations or the living rooms of the very, very wealthy. But today, it’s available to me and all other attendees of the VR Developers Conference in San Francisco. I am a responsible human adult, so I will not be spending the next several hours huddling in its soft black cushions, hiding from the world. I promise.
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