Comparison of Locomotion Interfaces for Immersive Training Systems

Abstract

The ability to stay oriented in an environment is an important skill for urban combat. Warriors must systematically clear areas of responsibility while moving tactically, scanning for potential targets, and engaging threats. A locomotion interface for an immersive virtual environment urban combat training system should enable the development of navigational skills. One aspect of navigation is path integration, in which a person estimates current position and orientation along a pathway from velocity and acceleration. Path integration allows people to stay oriented in low visibility or the dark, which is important in many tactical situations. This study compared the performance of three locomotion interfaces on three path integration tasks. Analysis revealed that type of locomotion interface has a significant impact on performance.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Chance

S. S.

Gaunet

Beall

A. C.

Loomis

J.M.

(1998). Locomotion mode affects the updating of objects encountered during travel: The contribution of vestibular and proprioceptive inputs to path integration. Presence, 7, 168–178.

Howell

D. C.

(1992). Statistical methods for psychology (Third ed.). Belmont, CA: Duxbury Press.

Interrante

Anderson

Ries

(2006). Distance perception in immersive virtual environments, revisited. Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality 2006, 3–10.

Klatzky

R. L.

Loomis

J. M.

Beall

A.C.

Chance

S. S.

Golledge

R. G.

(1998). Spatial updating of self-position and orientation during real, imagined, and virtual locomotion. Psychological Science, 9, 293–298.

Loomis

J. M.

Da Silva

J. A.

Fujita

Fukusima

S. S.

(1992). Visual space perception and visually directed action. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human perception and Performance, 18, 906–921.

Loomis

J. M.

Klatzky

R. L.

Golledge

R. G.

Philbeck

J. W.

(1999). Human navigation by path integration. In Golledge

R. G.

(Ed.), Wayfinding Behavior: Cognitive Mapping and Other Spatial Processes (pp. 125–151). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Loomis

J. M.

Knapp

J. M.

(2003). Visual perception of egocentric distance in real and virtual environments. In Hettinger

L. J.

Haas

M. W.

(Eds.), Virtual and Adaptive Environments (pp. 21–46). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Philbeck

J. W.

Loomis

J. M.

(1997). Comparison of two indicators of perceived egocentric distance under full-cue and reduced-cue conditions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25, 72–85.

Philbeck

J. W.

Loomis

J. M.

Beall

A. C.

(1997). Visually perceived location is an invariant in the control of action. Perception & Psychophysics, 59, 601–612.

10.

Richardson

A. R.

Waller

(2007). Interaction with an immersive virtual environment corrects users' distance estimates. Human Factors, 49, 507–517.

11.

Rieser

J. J.

Ashmead

D. H.

Taylor

C. R.

Youngquist

G. A.

(1990). Visual perception and the guidance of locomotion without vision to previously seen targets. Perception, 19, 675–689.

12.

Ruddle

R. A.

Payne

S. J.

Jones

D. M.

(1997). Navigating buildings in “desk-top” virtual environments: Experimental investigations using extended navigational experience. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 3, 143–159.

13.

Ruddle

R. A.

Payne

S. J.

Jones

D. M.

(1999). Navigating large-scale virtual environments: What differences occur between helmet-mounted and desk-top displays? Presence 8, 157–168.

14.

Templeman

J. N.

Denbrook

P. S.

Sibert

L. E.

(1999). Virtual locomotion: Walking in place through virtual environments. Presence, 8, 598–617.

15.

Templeman

J. N.

Sibert

L. E.

(2006). Immersive simulation of coordinated motion in virtual environments. In Allen

(Ed.), Applied Spatial Cognition: From Research to Cognitive Technology (pp. 339–372). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

16.

Thompson

W. B.

Willemsen

Gooch

A. A.

Creem-Rehehr

S. H.

Loomis

J. M.

Beall

A. C.

(2004). Does the quality of the computer graphics matter when judging distances in visually immersive environments? Presence 13, 560–571.