Gait coordination in overground walking with a virtual reality avatar

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Human locomotion
• Virtual Reality applications

Background:

• Interpersonal gait synchronization is understudied due to monitoring challenges.
• Immersive virtual reality (VR) offers a potential solution for ecological gait analysis.
• This study investigates gait coordination in dyads using VR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore gait coordination patterns in overground walking dyads within VR.
• To compare synchronization with a human pacer versus a VR avatar.
• To assess the impact of arrangement (side-by-side, front-to-back) and instruction on gait synchronization.

Main Methods:

• Six subjects walked 27 km with a pacer (human or AI-driven VR avatar).
• Tested side-by-side and front-to-back arrangements, with and without synchronization instructions.
• Utilized VR for continuous, repeatable gait monitoring.

Main Results:

• Little spontaneous gait coordination was observed.
• Intentional synchronization led to persistent gait coordination patterns.
• Front-to-back arrangements showed higher synchronization strength than side-by-side when synchronization was intended.
• Synchronization strength was comparable between human and VR pacer conditions, but VR limitations introduced differences.

Conclusions:

• VR is a viable tool for studying interpersonal gait synchronization.
• Intentional synchronization is key to observing gait coordination in dyads.
• Arrangement and VR fidelity can influence gait synchronization dynamics.