Effects of Different Tracker-driven Direction Sources on Continuous Artificial Locomotion in VR
Christos Lougiakis, Theodoros Mandilaras, Akrivi Katifori, Giorgos Ganias, Ioannis Panagiotis Ioannidis, Μαρία Ρούσσου · 2024
Continuous artificial locomotion in VR typically involves users selecting their direction using controller input, with the forward direction determined by the Head, Hands, or less commonly, the Hip. The effects of these different sources on user experience are under-explored, and Feet have not been used as a direction source. To address these gaps, we compared these direction sources, including a novel Feet-based technique. A user study with 22 participants assessed these methods in terms of performance, preference, motion sickness, and sense of presence. Our findings indicate high levels of presence and minimal motion sickness across all methods. Performance differences were noted in one task, where the Head outperformed the Hand. The Hand method was the least preferred, feeling less natural and realistic. The Feet method was found to be more natural than the Head and more realistic than the Hip. This study enhances understanding of direction sources in VR locomotion and introduces Feet-based direction as a viable alternative.