Department of Computer Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju-si 52828, Republic of Korea.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Apr 30;24(9):2848. doi: 10.3390/s24092848.
Virtual reality (VR) is used in many fields, including entertainment, education, training, and healthcare, because it allows users to experience challenging and dangerous situations that may be impossible in real life. Advances in head-mounted display technology have enhanced visual immersion, offering content that closely resembles reality. However, several factors can reduce VR immersion, particularly issues with the interactions in the virtual world, such as locomotion. Additionally, the development of locomotion technology is occurring at a moderate pace. Continuous research is being conducted using hardware such as treadmills, and motion tracking using depth cameras, but they are costly and space-intensive. This paper presents a walk-in-place (WIP) algorithm that uses Mocopi, a low-cost motion-capture device, to track user movements in real time. Additionally, its feasibility for VR applications was evaluated by comparing its performance with that of a treadmill using the absolute trajectory error metric and survey data collected from human participants. The proposed WIP algorithm with low-cost Mocopi exhibited performance similar to that of the high-cost treadmill, with significantly positive results for spatial awareness. This study is expected to contribute to solving the issue of spatial constraints when experiencing infinite virtual spaces.
虚拟现实(VR)在许多领域都有应用,包括娱乐、教育、培训和医疗保健,因为它可以让用户体验到在现实生活中不可能体验到的具有挑战性和危险性的情况。头戴式显示技术的进步提高了视觉沉浸感,提供了接近真实的内容。然而,有几个因素会降低 VR 的沉浸感,特别是在虚拟世界中的交互问题,例如运动。此外,运动技术的发展速度适中。人们正在使用跑步机等硬件和深度相机进行运动跟踪等方面进行持续的研究,但这些方法成本高且空间占用大。本文提出了一种使用低成本运动捕捉设备 Mocopi 实时跟踪用户运动的原地行走(WIP)算法。此外,还通过使用绝对轨迹误差度量和从人类参与者收集的调查数据,将其与跑步机的性能进行比较,评估了其在 VR 应用中的可行性。具有低成本 Mocopi 的提出的 WIP 算法表现与高成本跑步机相似,在空间意识方面具有显著的积极结果。这项研究有望有助于解决在体验无限虚拟空间时遇到的空间限制问题。