Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
14.3 Practical Considerations for Training Environments
While redirected walking has been shown to work perceptually, these techniques
have yet to be transitioned into active training simulators. In this section, we present
practical considerations for using redirected walking techniques in training environ-
ments, and discuss recent research and design mechanics that have begun to address
the challenges of deploying redirected walking in practical applications.
14.3.1 Impact of Redirection on Spatial Orientation
It is important to consider how soldiers will react when self-motion manipulation
techniques are used in an immersive training simulator. Such applications often
require users to rapidly assess the environment and respond quickly to perceived
threats. However, when users are redirected, the mapping between the real and virtual
worlds is manipulated. If a user reacts instinctively based on the spatial model of the
real world, this could lead to confusion or poor performance in the virtual simulator,
which may negatively impact the training value. Thus, we performed a study of the
effect of redirection on spatial orientation relative to both the real and virtual worlds
to determine which world model users would favor in spatial judgments [ 26 ].
Participants in the study performed a series of pointing tasks while wearing a
Fakespace Wide 5 head-mounted display in our approximate 10
×
10 m tracking
area. First, they were asked to remove the display and point at a real target using a
pistol grip-mounted Wiimote that was also tracked using the motion capture system
(see Fig. 14.1 a). Next, they put the display back on and pointed to a different target
that was visible in the virtual environment (see Fig. 14.1 b). Participants were then
asked to walk down a virtual road and visit a virtual room, and during this process,
they were redirected by 90 . After leaving the room, and walking down to the end of
the road, they then were asked to point back to the locations where they thought the
original real and virtual targets were, even though they were no longer visible (see
Fig. 14.1 c-d).
The results from this experiment showed that participants pointed to the real
targets as if they had been rotated along with the virtual world. In other words, their
spatial models of the real world also appeared to be updated by the manipulations
to the virtual world. In general, we speculate that users will often trust what they
see in virtual environments, and will therefore tend to rely on visual information
over vestibular sensation for spatial judgments. Our observations, both from this
experiment and from our own informal tests, suggest that it is very difficult to hold
on to both the real world and virtual world spatial models simultaneously. These
findings suggest that redirected walking is highly promising for use in immersive
training environments, as we can expect users to respond correctly to the virtual
content with little or no spatial interference from residual memories of the real world.
 
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