Investigating Resolution Strategies for Workspace-Occlusion in Augmented Virtuality

2025-05-13

AI Summary

In augmented virtuality (AV), occlusion of the physical workspace by virtual content impedes human–computer interaction and compromises operational safety and system usability. To address this, this work presents the first systematic comparison of two dynamic alignment strategies—Redirected Walking (RW) and Automatic Teleport Rotation (ATR)—in mitigating workspace occlusion, evaluating their trade-offs between effectiveness and user comfort. Leveraging VR user behavior modeling and dual-dimensional (subjective and objective) evaluation, we conducted experiments in a virtual forest environment. Both RW and ATR significantly reduced physical device occlusion rates (p < 0.01). While ATR achieved superior occlusion elimination, it induced significantly higher cybersickness levels, exposing an inherent tension between occlusion mitigation efficacy and safety. Our findings provide empirical evidence and methodological guidance for designing and selecting occlusion-mitigation strategies in AV systems.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Computer Vision: Low Level & Physics-based Vision
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Activity and Plan Recognition

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Virtualization and resource management in Web systems and infrastructures
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web

Abstract

Augmented Virtuality integrates physical content into virtual environments, but the occlusion of physical by virtual content is a challenge. This unwanted occlusion may disrupt user interactions with physical devices and compromise safety and usability. This paper investigates two resolution strategies to address this issue: Redirected Walking, which subtly adjusts the user's movement to maintain physical-virtual alignment, and Automatic Teleport Rotation, which realigns the virtual environment during travel. A user study set in a virtual forest demonstrates that both methods effectively reduce occlusion. While in our testbed, Automatic Teleport Rotation achieves higher occlusion resolution, it is suspected to increase cybersickness compared to the less intrusive Redirected Walking approach.

Problem

• Resolving physical-virtual occlusion in Augmented Virtuality environments
• Comparing Redirected Walking and Automatic Teleport Rotation strategies
• Balancing occlusion reduction and cybersickness in user interactions

Innovation

• Redirected Walking adjusts user movement subtly
• Automatic Teleport Rotation realigns virtual environment
• Both methods reduce workspace occlusion effectively