Validating Simulation-Based Evaluation of Redirected Walking Systems.

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Computer Science

Background:

• Effective strategies for redirected walking (RW) are crucial for immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences.
• Large-scale user studies for RW evaluation are often impractical, leading to reliance on simulations.
• The ecological validity of simulation-based evaluations for RW remains an open research question.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the ecological validity of simulation as an evaluation methodology for redirected walking algorithms.
• To analyze the interaction between user locomotion behavior and redirection gains at micro and macro levels.
• To compare simulation performance metrics with data from real user studies.

Main Methods:

• Analyzing locomotion data from real users interacting with RW algorithms.
• Developing and utilizing a simulated user model for performance evaluation.
• Comparing performance metrics between simulated and real user data across different path segments and entire experiences.

Main Results:

• User locomotion behavior significantly influences the effectiveness of RW gains and resets.
• Simulation provided a conservative estimate of average performance compared to real users.
• Performance trends between different RW algorithms were consistently preserved in simulations.

Conclusions:

• Simulation is an empirically valid and reliable evaluation methodology for redirected walking algorithms.
• Understanding user locomotion behavior is key to optimizing RW strategies.
• Simulation offers a practical and efficient approach for systematic RW algorithm development and testing.