Keyword: Human-Computer Interaction

Sin, Zackary PT, Jia, Ye, Li, Richard Chen, Leong, Hong Va, Li, Qing, Ng, Peter HF

2024 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) (2024)

Locomotion has a marked impact on user experience in VR, but currently, common to-go techniques such as steering and teleportation have their limitations. Particularly, steering is prone to cybersickness, while teleportation trades presence for mitigating cybersickness. Inspired by how we manipulate a picture on a mobile phone, we propose illumotion, an optical-illusion-based method that, we believe, can provide an alternative to these two typical techniques. Instead of zooming in a picture by pinching two fingers, we can move forward by "zooming" toward part of the 3D virtual scene with pinched hands. Not only is the proposed technique easy to use, it also seems to minimize cybersickness to some degree. illumotion relies on the manipulation of optics; as such, it requires solving motion parameters in screen space and a model of how we perceive depth. To evaluate it, a comprehensive user study with 66 users was conducted. Results show that, compared with either teleportation, steering or both, illumotion has better performance, presence, usability, user experience and cybersickness alleviation. We believe the result is a clear indication that our novel opticallydriven method is a promising candidate for generalized locomotion.

Ye Jia, Zackary P. T. Sin, Chen Li, Peter H. F. Ng, Xiao Huang, George Baciu, Jiannong Cao, Qing Li

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (2025)

In virtual reality, point-and-teleport (P&T) is a locomotion technique that is popular for its user-friendliness, lowering workload and mitigating cybersickness. However, most P&T schemes use instantaneous transitions, which has been known to hinder spatial learning. While replacing instantaneous transitions with animated interpolations can address this issue, they may inadvertently induce cybersickness. To counter these deficiencies, we propose Traceable Teleportation (TTP), an enhanced locomotion technique grounded in a theoretical framework that was designed to improve spatial learning. TTP incorporates two novel features: an Undo-Redo mechanism that facilitates rapid back-and-forth movements, and a Visualized Path that offers additional visual cues. We have conducted a user study via a set of spatial learning tests within a virtual labyrinth to assess the effect of these enhancements on the P&T technique. Our findings indicate that the TTP Undo-Redo design generally facilitates the learning of orientational spatial knowledge without incurring additional cybersickness or diminishing sense of presence.