RECAPSTONE STUFF WE LEARNED ABOUT DESIGN FOR VIRTUAL LOCOMOTION

TRAVRSE PROJECT Nick Anderson (nickand@uw.edu) Erick Lo Monica Caraway Sponsor: HTC Americas (Brian Espinosa)

TONIGHT Context—design issues in VR locomotion TraVRse project and findings Some design recommendations Doing user research in VR Current work and future directions

VR SYSTEMS Oculus Rift HTC Vive Samsung Gear Microsoft Hololens Google Cardboard Seated vs. room-scale context

GENERAL VR DESIGN CONCERNS Motion sickness User presence Sensory mismatch Visual Proprioceptive Vestibular Haptic context

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DESIGN CONCERNS FOR ROOM-SCALE LOCOMOTION Virtual space vs. workspace Avoid sickness Transitions to/from walking Move only at user intention Extend 1:1 movement but keep cause/effect consistent context

COMMON SOLUTIONS Teleportation Vehicles Augmented natural motions context

TRAVRSE STUDY For room-scale VR, what methods and design heuristics best support immersive locomotion experiences across virtual distances, while maintaining user presence and reducing sickness? Lots of research and UCD led to 2 prototypes

STUDY SUMMARY Nine participants 4x Running Man 5x Jetpack ~1 hour sessions Pre-test and post-test for sickness Post-test qualitative measures for presence study

SUCCESS MEASURES Conventional Locomotion task success Sickness and presence instruments Unconventional User precautions in VE Alternative user interactions Limit-seeking study

INTERACTIONS Transitions and inadvertent motion Controller orientation Smoothness Full-body steering vs. controller-only Exertion Sensory mismatch for flight experience study

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SATISFACTION Fun was had by all Presence not directly related to ease/difficulty Observed vs. user-reported immersion study

EMBODIMENT AND SENSATION Users want to feel their own effect on the VE. Participants supplied sensations that didn’t exist in the prototype Motion inputs vs. vestibular system Falling vs. height exposure study

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DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS Emphasize 1:1 walking as a core locomotion experience for room-scale. Supports user presence and place illusions. Counteracts motion sickness. Frames other locomotion methods and scenarios. outcomes

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS Support easy transitions between locomotion methods, especially to/from walking. Walking is “default” for room scale Users may forget to take action to resume walking. outcomes

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS Align visual, proprioceptive, and controller feedback.   Given other design considerations, minimize disagreement between users’ physical sensations in the workspace and their virtual experience. outcomes

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS Mild sensory mismatch is tolerable and may not diminish user presence. Try to anticipate detection thresholds… outcomes

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS Fidelity does not necessarily contribute to user presence. Visual realism and high experiential fidelity are probably less important. Strong, consistent causal relationships between user actions and results in the VE are more important. outcomes

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS Consider how context influences user expectations for locomotion methods. Context matters.  How users encounter a locomotion method in the VE can support or limit the extent to which interactions are discoverable and intuitive. outcomes

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS Consider design trade-offs carefully when presence-enhancing experiences approach sickness thresholds for users. Presence: stomach “lurch” from rollercoaster. Presence: “tingle” from height exposure. Sickness: high-speed turns without feeling body lean. outcomes

DOING USER RESEARCH IN VR (What we learned) Pay special attention to sensory aspects of research setting Difficult to distinguish specific interactions from VE context Wide range of proprioceptive self-awareness among users

CURRENT WORK ConVRse: capstone project using VR for second-language learning Cardboard and Unity3D for rapid prototyping Presence is powerful Heuristics—are they holding up?

FUTURE WORK? Vive and more 1:1 motion experiences Demos/promos vs. useful VR Documentary/POV content, virtual tourism Uncanny valley work for social-presence and conferencing applications

RESEARCH IDEAS VR for social good! HIT Labs—VR for pain management, phobias Scientific training/simulation POV shifting for cultural exchange Cognitive development—language learning, memory More work on “tolerable mismatches” More work on haptic illusions

PLUG FOR WORKSHOP Todd Little HCDE Skill Share: Introduction to Whitebox Prototyping with Unity3D HCDE Design Lab (Sieg 233) Saturday, May 21st, 1pm-2:30pm

THANKS! QUESTIONS? nickand@uw.edu