Development of Virtual Reality Walking Collision Detection Test on Head-mounted display

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Biomechanics

Background:

• Safe mobility relies on effective collision detection and avoidance during walking.
• Objective outcome measures are crucial for assessing clinical interventions aimed at improving mobility.
• Traditional real-world obstacle courses present safety and control limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a virtual reality (VR) system for measuring walking collision detection and avoidance.
• To overcome the limitations of physical obstacle courses by providing a controlled and safe environment.
• To establish a potential objective outcome measure for clinical interventions in mobility.

Main Methods:

• Developed a VR walking collision detection test using a standalone head-mounted display (Meta Quest 2) and the Unity 3D engine.
• Implemented scenarios within a virtual busy shopping mall environment with simulated pedestrians.
• Focused performance measures on collision detection and avoidance behaviors, incorporating mixed reality (MR) for calibration.

Main Results:

• The VR system successfully enabled physical walking within a virtual environment.
• Addressed challenges including visual perception mismatches, limited field of view, and pedestrian path design.
• Demonstrated promising potential for the VR scenarios as objective clinical outcome measures.

Conclusions:

• The developed VR system provides a safe and controllable method for assessing walking collision detection and avoidance.
• This technology has significant potential as a novel outcome measure in clinical settings for mobility assessment.
• Further implementation and validation are warranted to establish its clinical utility.