Designing Limitless Path in Virtual Reality Environment

TL;DR

This paper introduces an algorithm that enables users to navigate virtually limitless environments within limited physical space using only a standard HMD, validated through a virtual art gallery use-case.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel algorithmic approach for limitless virtual navigation without external hardware support, enhancing user experience in constrained physical spaces.

Findings

Algorithm successfully generates limitless paths in the use-case

Participants found navigation intuitive and seamless

Approach can be extended to other virtual environments

Abstract

Walking in a Virtual Environment is a bounded task. It is challenging for a subject to navigate a large virtual environment designed in a limited physical space. External hardware support may be required to achieve such an act in a concise physical area without compromising navigation and virtual scene rendering quality. This paper proposes an algorithmic approach to let a subject navigate a limitless virtual environment within a limited physical space with no additional external hardware support apart from the regular Head-Mounted-Device (HMD) itself. As part of our work, we developed a Virtual Art Gallery as a use-case to validate our algorithm. We conducted a simple user-study to gather feedback from the participants to evaluate the ease of locomotion of the application. The results showed that our algorithm could generate limitless paths of our use-case under predefined conditions and can be extended to other use-cases.