The effects of natural locomotion on maneuvering task performance in virtual and real environments
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Authors
Unguder, Eray
Subjects
Advisors
Darken, Rudy
Peterson, Barry
Date of Issue
2001-09
Date
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
This thesis investigates human performance differences on maneuvering tasks in virtual and real spaces when a natural locomotion technique is used as opposed to an abstraction through a device such as a treadmill. The motivation for the development of locomotion devices thus far has been driven by the assumption that a βperfectγ device will result in human performance levels comparable to the real world. This thesis challenges this assumption under the hypothesis that other factors beyond the locomotion device contribute to performance degradation. An experiment was conducted to study the effects of these other factors. The experiment studied sidestepping, kneeling, looking around a corner, and backward movement tasks related to a building clearing exercise. The participants physically walked through the environment under all conditions. There were three treatments: real world (no display, physical objects present), virtual world (headmounted display, no physical objects), and real and virtual world combined (head-mounted display, physical objects present). The results suggest that performance and behavior are not the same across conditions with the real world condition being uniformly better than the virtual conditions. This evidence supports the claim that even with identical locomotion techniques, performance and behaviors change from the real to the virtual world.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
xvi, 122 p. ;
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.