Intentional Head-Motion Assisted Locomotion for Reducing Cybersickness

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Cybersickness, a common issue in VR, arises from sensory conflicts.
• Existing locomotion techniques often fail to adequately align visual and vestibular self-motion cues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an efficient VR locomotion technique that minimizes cybersickness.
• To investigate the relationship between self-motion velocity and cybersickness levels.

Main Methods:

• A novel locomotion technique is presented, integrating intentional head motion (translation and yaw) with controller input.
• User studies (Experiments 1-3) were conducted to assess cybersickness levels at varying translation and angular velocities.
• Comparative analysis against joystick-based steering and teleportation was performed.

Main Results:

• Cybersickness was found to be greatest at the lowest velocities, suggesting a U-shaped correlation between velocity and cybersickness.
• The proposed method significantly reduced cybersickness compared to joystick-based steering.
• The technique achieved higher presence than teleportation.

Conclusions:

• The novel locomotion technique effectively reduces cybersickness by aligning sensory inputs.
• This method offers a promising alternative for immersive VR applications, enhancing user experience.
• The findings provide new insights into managing cybersickness through optimized locomotion design.