Technology Category
Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous CharactersIntelligent Robots: Human-Robot InteractionCognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior
Effect of Haptic Feedback on Avoidance Behavior and Visual Exploration in Dynamic VR Pedestrian Environment
🤖 AI Summary
This study investigates how haptic feedback influences obstacle avoidance behavior and visual exploration in dynamic virtual reality (VR) pedestrian environments. We constructed a high-density, motion-based pedestrian simulation and employed synchronized multimodal sensing—including wearable haptics, optical motion capture, and eye-tracking—to record walking trajectories, pelvic orientation, gait parameters, and visual attention. Results show that haptic feedback significantly enhances users’ instantaneous collision sensitivity to approaching pedestrians from the lateral-rear sector, thereby improving situational awareness. Specifically, participants exhibited longer path lengths, larger pelvic angular excursions, greater lateral evasive displacement, increased stride velocity variability, broader visual search spans, and higher saccade frequencies. This work provides the first systematic empirical evidence of directional guidance effects of haptic cues during dense-pedestrian VR navigation, establishing a novel paradigm for immersive human factors engineering and accessible navigation design.
Technology Category
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Human crowd simulation in virtual reality (VR) is a powerful tool with potential applications including emergency evacuation training and assessment of building layout. While haptic feedback in VR enhances immersive experience, its effect on walking behavior in dense and dynamic pedestrian flows is unknown. Through a user study, we investigated how haptic feedback changes user walking motion in crowded pedestrian flows in VR. The results indicate that haptic feedback changed users' collision avoidance movements, as measured by increased walking trajectory length and change in pelvis angle. The displacements of users' lateral position and pelvis angle were also increased in the instantaneous response to a collision with a non-player character (NPC), even when the NPC was inside the field of view. Haptic feedback also enhanced users' awareness and visual exploration when an NPC approached from the side and back. Furthermore, variation in walking speed was increased by the haptic feedback. These results suggested that the haptic feedback enhanced users' sensitivity to a collision in VR environment.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Effect of haptic feedback on VR pedestrian avoidance behavior
Impact of haptic cues on visual exploration in crowded VR
Haptic feedback influence on walking dynamics in virtual crowds
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Haptic feedback alters collision avoidance movements
Haptic feedback increases lateral position displacements
Haptic feedback enhances visual exploration awareness
🔎 Similar Papers
No similar papers found.
