The Role of Binocular Vision in Avoiding Virtual Obstacles While Walking

Advances in Virtual Reality technology have enabled physical walking in virtual environments. While most Virtual Reality systems render stereoscopic images to users, the implication of binocular viewing with respect to the performance of human walking in virtual environments remains largely unknown. In the present study, we conducted two walking experiments in virtual environments using a linear treadmill and a novel projected display known as the Wide Immersive Stereo Environment (WISE) to study the role of binocular viewing in virtual locomotion. The first experiment investigated the walking performance of people stepping over obstacles while the second experiment focused on a scenario on stepping over gaps. Both experiments were conducted under both stereoscopic viewing and non-stereoscopic viewing conditions. By analysing the gait parameters, we found that binocular viewing helped people to make more accurate movements to step over obstacles and gaps in virtual locomotion.