Generation of Walking Sensation by Providing Upper Limb Motion

Abstract

For an immersive first-person experience in a VR space, the user (or an avatar)needs to walk freely within the space because locomotion is essential and the basisfor a variety of activities. The present study investigates the arm swing of a user toinduce a bodily sensation during walking in a VR space. We built an arm swingdisplay that moves the upper limbs similarly to the motion appears in a real walking.The amplitude and flexion ratio of swing motion to present the sensation of virtualwalking were determined via the user study. The optimal swing angle and itsforward part ratio (flexion ratio) to create the sensation of a straight waking werearound 30 degrees and 54 percent, respectively. For a turning walking, the relationbetween the asymmetric flexion ratio of both arms and the curvature of a turningpath was also determined by an experiment.