Teleportation With Reorientation for Redirected Walking in VR

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality (VR) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Locomotion techniques in immersive environments
• Navigation strategies in virtual environments

Background:

• Redirected walking (RDW) allows natural movement in virtual environments (VEs) larger than physical spaces (PEs).
• Full reliance on RDW for large VEs is challenging; teleportation offers rapid, sickness-free travel.
• Combining RDW with teleportation is practical for VR navigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce Teleportation with Reorientation (TRO) to enhance RDW performance.
• Investigate TRO's effectiveness in improving VR navigation when combined with RDW.
• Compare TRO against standard teleportation in conjunction with RDW.

Main Methods:

• Developed TRO, a technique that integrates reorientation into teleportation via an immediate orientation offset.
• Conducted a simulation-based evaluation and a user study to compare TRO with regular teleportation.
• Assessed performance, workload, usability, likeability, and preference ratings.

Main Results:

• TRO significantly improved redirected walking performance compared to regular teleportation.
• While TRO increased workload and decreased usability, most participants found it acceptable.
• One-step turning TRO variant received likeability and preference ratings similar to regular teleportation.

Conclusions:

• TRO with one-step turning is a viable alternative to regular teleportation for VR navigation when RDW is also used.
• The technique effectively enhances RDW performance by leveraging teleportation for reorientation.
• Further research may optimize TRO for improved usability and reduced workload.