Redirected Walking in Static and Dynamic Scenes Using Visibility Polygons.

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality
• Robotics
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Redirected walking (RW) is crucial for immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences, enabling larger virtual spaces within physical limits.
• Existing RW methods face challenges with geometric and perceptual constraints, leading to user disorientation and frequent resets.
• Integrating robot motion planning offers a robust framework for addressing these RW challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a new mathematical framework for redirected walking using concepts from motion planning and configuration spaces.
• To propose an efficient RW solution addressing geometric and perceptual constraints in static and dynamic scenes.
• To reduce user resets and enhance navigation in VR through optimized redirection gains.

Main Methods:

• Developed a mathematical framework for RW based on motion planning and configuration spaces.
• Utilized visibility polygons to represent walkable free spaces in both physical and virtual environments.
• Applied RW to steer users towards matching visibility polygon regions between physical and virtual spaces.

Main Results:

• The proposed RW algorithm successfully steers users along collision-free paths.
• Demonstrated significantly fewer resets compared to state-of-the-art algorithms in both static and dynamic scenes.
• The visibility polygon approach provides an efficient representation of walkable space.

Conclusions:

• The novel RW approach effectively manages user navigation in VR by leveraging robot motion planning principles.
• Visibility polygons offer a powerful tool for calculating optimal redirection gains, enhancing user experience.
• This method presents a significant advancement in creating more immersive and less disruptive VR navigation systems.