Steering locomotion by vestibular perturbation in room-scale VR

PubDate: April 2017

Teams: MIT Media Lab

Writers: Misha Sra

PDF: Steering locomotion by vestibular perturbation in room-scale VR

Abstract

Advances in consumer virtual reality (VR) technology have made using natural locomotion for navigation in VR a possibility. While walking in VR can enhance immersion and reduce motion sickness, it introduces a few challenges. Walking is only possible within virtual environments (VEs) that fit inside the boundaries of the tracked physical space, which for most users is quite small and carries a high potential for collisions with physical objects around the tracked area. In my thesis, I explore visual and physiological steering techniques that complement the traditional redirected walking technique of scene rotation to alter a user’s walking trajectory in the physical space. In this paper, I present the physiological technique.