Investigating Object Translation in Room-scale, Handheld Virtual Reality.

Area of Science:

• Human-computer interaction
• Virtual reality
• Augmented reality

Background:

• Handheld devices are increasingly used in virtual reality (VR), offering accessibility and collaboration beyond head-mounted displays.
• Current object manipulation techniques for handheld devices are mainly evaluated at table-top scale, with limited understanding of their performance in larger, room-scale environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the usability and performance of different object translation techniques for room-scale handheld VR.
• To compare the effectiveness of 3DSlide, VirtualGrasp, and Joystick techniques in a large-scale VR setting.

Main Methods:

• Two studies were conducted with 30 participants each.
• Participants performed object translation tasks in a room-scale VR environment using handheld devices.
• Three translation techniques (3DSlide, VirtualGrasp, Joystick) were compared, alongside variations in target size, distance, and user mobility (stationary vs. moving).

Main Results:

• The Joystick technique, which translates objects relative to the user's viewpoint, was found to be the fastest and most preferred method.
• No significant difference in precision was observed across the tested techniques.
• User mobility (stationary vs. moving) and target characteristics also influenced performance, though Joystick remained superior.

Conclusions:

• Joystick offers the most effective method for object translation in room-scale handheld VR, balancing speed, preference, and precision.
• Findings provide crucial insights for designing more intuitive and efficient interaction techniques in VR and mixed reality systems utilizing handheld devices.
• Further research can explore optimizing Joystick and other techniques under diverse environmental and user conditions.