Controlling teleportation-based locomotion in virtual reality with hand gestures: a comparative evaluation of two-handed and one-handed techniques

A Schäfer, G Reis, D Stricker - Electronics, 2021 - mdpi.com
Electronics, 2021mdpi.com
Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers users the possibility to immerse and freely navigate
through virtual worlds. An important component for achieving a high degree of immersion in
VR is locomotion. Often discussed in the literature, a natural and effective way of controlling
locomotion is still a general problem which needs to be solved. Recently, VR headset
manufacturers have been integrating more sensors, allowing hand or eye tracking without
any additional required equipment. This enables a wide range of application scenarios with …
Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers users the possibility to immerse and freely navigate through virtual worlds. An important component for achieving a high degree of immersion in VR is locomotion. Often discussed in the literature, a natural and effective way of controlling locomotion is still a general problem which needs to be solved. Recently, VR headset manufacturers have been integrating more sensors, allowing hand or eye tracking without any additional required equipment. This enables a wide range of application scenarios with natural freehand interaction techniques where no additional hardware is required. This paper focuses on techniques to control teleportation-based locomotion with hand gestures, where users are able to move around in VR using their hands only. With the help of a comprehensive study involving 21 participants, four different techniques are evaluated. The effectiveness and efficiency as well as user preferences of the presented techniques are determined. Two two-handed and two one-handed techniques are evaluated, revealing that it is possible to move comfortable and effectively through virtual worlds with a single hand only.
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