Gaining the High Ground: Teleportation to Mid-Air Targets in Immersive Virtual Environments

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality
• User Experience Design

Background:

• Traditional virtual reality teleportation is limited to object-based navigation.
• Mid-air navigation in VR remains a challenge for immersive experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate three novel virtual reality teleportation techniques for mid-air navigation.
• To investigate the integration of elevation changes into teleportation target selection.

Main Methods:

• Developed three adaptations of the teleportation metaphor for mid-air travel.
• Incorporated elevation specification simultaneously, as a second step, or separately from horizontal movement.
• Conducted a user study with 30 participants to assess accuracy, task load, and usability.

Main Results:

• The simultaneous method yielded the highest accuracy for mid-air teleportation.
• The two-step method resulted in the lowest task load and highest usability ratings.
• The separate method was less effective alone but could complement other techniques.

Conclusions:

• A trade-off exists between accuracy and usability/task load in mid-air teleportation techniques.
• Design guidelines for effective mid-air navigation in virtual reality were established based on user study findings.