ABSTRACT

We explore the use of Virtual Reality as a way to simulate field studies via what is known as Virtual Field Studies. This is particularly relevant when inviting participants to the lab is not feasible, or in the case of our work to simulate locomotion in crowded streets from the safety of the lab. We rely on this to assess the effects of four different cues in normalising gait performance in a simulated environment: two baselines from literature (visual and haptic) that have been traditionally explored in the context of a controlled lab environment, and two novel haptic cues that combine temporal and spatial feedback. We compare these in a holistic manner for the first time, capturing not only gait and gaze performance, but usability, perceived workload, and participant preference. Our haptic baseline performed according to the results described in the literature, and together with participants' gaze behaviour and sense of embodiment we start to validate Virtual Field Studies in this domain. We further report that the haptic baseline was the preferred cue by participants, and led to an overall better performance. We conclude with our implementation of GaitWear, a smart watch application that produces this haptic baseline on the fly.

摘要

我们探索使用虚拟现实作为通过所谓的虚拟实地研究来模拟实地研究的一种方式。当邀请参与者到实验室不可行时，或者在我们的工作中，在实验室安全的情况下模拟拥挤街道上的运动时，这一点尤其重要。我们依靠它来评估四种不同线索在模拟环境中使步态表现正常化的影响：传统上在受控实验室环境中探索的两个来自文献（视觉和触觉）的基线，以及两个新颖的触觉线索结合时间和空间反馈。我们首次以整体方式对这些进行比较，不仅捕捉步态和凝视表现，还捕捉可用性、感知工作量和参与者偏好。我们的触觉基线根据文献中描述的结果执行，连同参与者的凝视行为和体现感，我们开始验证该领域的虚拟现场研究。我们进一步报告说，触觉基线是参与者的首选线索，并导致整体表现更好。我们以实现 GaitWear 结束，这是一个智能手表应用程序，可以动态生成这种触觉基线。