Peripheral Teleportation: A Rest Frame Design to Mitigate Cybersickness During Virtual Locomotion.

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Cybersickness, a common issue in virtual reality (VR), hinders user experience and adoption.
• Dynamic field-of-view (FOV) restriction, a prevalent cybersickness mitigation strategy, involves peripheral blackouts but reduces environmental visibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate peripheral teleportation, a novel VR technique for mitigating cybersickness.
• To compare the effectiveness of peripheral teleportation against traditional FOV restriction and an unrestricted condition.

Main Methods:

• Peripheral teleportation utilizes rest frame (RF) cameras to render the peripheral view from the current virtual environment.
• RF camera transforms are synchronized with user's physical motion, employing alternating teleportations or snap turns.
• A between-subjects study (N=90) compared peripheral teleportation with black FOV restriction and a control group.

Main Results:

• Peripheral teleportation significantly reduced participant discomfort during VR use.
• Participants using peripheral teleportation experienced longer immersion durations in the virtual environment.
• The technique maintained a stable peripheral view by matching optical flow to physical motion.

Conclusions:

• Peripheral teleportation is a promising and effective technique for mitigating cybersickness in virtual reality.
• This novel approach enhances VR usability without compromising peripheral visibility.
• VR developers may consider incorporating peripheral teleportation into their cybersickness mitigation strategies.