Navigation is a representative task in a virtual environment (VE). The locomotion methods affect the navigation performance and can cause involuntary movements by the users, which may cause critical safety problems. Thus, this study examined the effects of different locomotion methods on the users’ involuntary position shift (IPS) and navigation performance in a VE. Twenty-one healthy participants performed the navigation task with four locomotion methods: walking in place (WIP), running in place (RIP), joystick, and teleportation. The results showed that a larger amount of IPS occurred with VE navigation under WIP and RIP conditions than joystick and teleportation conditions, which may cause critical safety problems, such as collisions with walls. Moreover, teleportation took the shortest task completion time, but its error time ratio was the largest. These results are expected to help develop basic guidelines for applying locomotion methods to specific situations and establishing safety precautions for virtual reality experiences.

导航是虚拟环境 (VE) 中的一项代表性任务。移动方法会影响导航性能，并可能导致用户不自觉地移动，这可能会导致严重的安全问题。因此，本研究检查了不同运动方法对用户非自愿位置偏移 (IPS) 和 VE 中导航性能的影响。21 名健康参与者使用四种运动方法执行导航任务：原地行走 (WIP)、原地跑步 (RIP)、操纵杆和传送。结果表明，在 WIP 和 RIP 条件下，VE 导航发生的 IPS 量比操纵杆和隐形传送条件下的要多，这可能会导致严重的安全问题，例如与墙壁碰撞。而且，瞬移花费了最短的任务完成时间，但它的错误时间比例是最大的。预计这些结果将有助于制定将运动方法应用于特定情况并为虚拟现实体验制定安全预防措施的基本指南。