Realizing a New Step-in-place Locomotion interface for Virtual Environment with Large Display System

Abstract

Omni-directional locomotion systems are yet of little advantage in virtual environments (VEs) with limited large display system, where users may experience visual-less situations when they move in a direction that is not covered by the large screen. This paper presents a new omni-directional locomotion interface based on step-inplace movement and a smart-turntable system to impart users with the ability to move freely in any direction within VEs without loosing sight of the displayed images despite their projection on a limited large screen that do not provide surrounding or 360o visual feedback. A sensor-embedded turntable is used as a walking platform, on top of which users will stand at its center to perform walk in place and turn in place movements to steer their navigation through the virtual environment. However, as a large turn action may put the screen outside user s visual field of view, the turntable will cancel user s turnings by a smooth and passive rotation in the opposite direction so as to keep user oriented toward the center of the screen. The novelty of the interface is that a) it uses a smart-turntable as walking platform that compensate users rotations rather than their displacements b) no cable attachments are made to the user body c) user can make many full body rotations without loosing sight of the environment, virtually providing a surrounding display despite the use of limited size screen.