Abstract
We propose a low-asymmetry interface to improve the presence of non-head-mounted-display (non-HMD) users in shared virtual reality (VR) experiences with HMD users. The low-asymmetry interface ensures that the HMD and non-HMD users’ perception of the VR environment is almost similar. That is, the point-of-view asymmetry and behavior asymmetry between HMD and non-HMD users are reduced. Our system comprises a portable mobile device as a visual display to provide a changing PoV for the non-HMD user and a walking simulator as an in-place walking detection sensor to enable the same level of realistic and unrestricted physical-walking-based locomotion for all users. Because this allows non-HMD users to experience the same level of visualization and free movement as HMD users, both of them can engage as the main actors in movement scenarios. Our user study revealed that the low-asymmetry interface enables non-HMD users to feel a presence similar to that of the HMD users when performing equivalent locomotion tasks in a virtual environment. Furthermore, our system can enable one HMD user and multiple non-HMD users to participate together in a virtual world; moreover, our experiments show that the non-HMD user satisfaction increases with the number of non-HMD participants owing to increased presence and enjoyment.
Highlights
Improving the immersion and presence of users is the principal issue in virtual reality (VR), and several studies have explored this subject
The application and environment developed for the head-mounted display (HMD) and non-HMD users based on a low-asymmetry system were implemented using Unity 3D 2019.2.17f1, Oculus SDK, and a walking simulator used for user walking motion determination, as presented by [8]
For the question “How much delay did you experience between your actions and expected outcomes” in the questionnaire, we found that the low-asymmetry interface does experience a latency problem compared with the basic interface because of the time taken for transferring the walking simulator data over a network, and the corresponding difference is significant for the non-HMD users (t(22) = 3.675, p < 0.001)
Summary
Improving the immersion and presence of users is the principal issue in virtual reality (VR), and several studies have explored this subject. There have been proposals [1] to enhance the immersion and presence of non-HMD users to enable both types of users to achieve a co-located, asymmetric, VR experience. Such proposals are driven by the different engagement levels required by various virtual environment (VE) participants. Numerous VR applications and scenarios have been employed in diverse fields such as education, health care, physical training, and home entertainment Among these applications, in addition to the participating HMD users, the proportion of non-HMD users who experience the VR environment via a desktop PC or projector display [2] is large and increasing.
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