Walking up virtual stairs based on visuo-haptic interaction

PubDate: July 2017

Teams: The University of Tokyo

Writers: Ryohei Nagao；Keigo Matsumoto；Takuji Narumi；Tomohiro Tanikawa；Michitaka Hirose

PDF: Walking up virtual stairs based on visuo-haptic interaction

Abstract

In the field of virtual reality, a few methods exist that allow a user to walk up and down the stairs in a virtual environment (VE); however, most of them are based on a complicated device system that generates physical steps using actuators (e.g., [Iwata et al. 2005; Schmidt et al. 2015]). Because it is difficult for users wearing head mounted displays (HMDs) to keep track of the surrounding environment, walking on physical steps could prove to be very dangerous and lead to injuries. Further, these systems have disadvantages in that the user cannot walk naturally. Therefore, a simple and low-cost system that allows users to walk safely and freely in the vertical direction in a VE is highly desirable.