The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems (한국ITS학회 논문지)

The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems (한국ITS학회)
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A Study on Validation of Omnidirectional VR Treadmill by Comparison of Spatial Orientation Skills

공간지향 능력 비교를 통한 전방향 VR 트레드밀의 유효성 검증 연구

  • Park, Hyunchul (Dept. of Urban Systems Eng., Kongju National University) ;
  • Oh, Taeho (Dept. of Civil Eng., Monash University) ;
  • Kim, Inhi (Dept. of Urban Systems Eng., Kongju National University)
  • 박현철 (국립공주대학교 도시융합시스템공학과) ;
  • 오태호 (Monash University 토목공학과) ;
  • 김인희 (국립공주대학교 도시융합시스템공학과)
  • Received : 2022.09.01
  • Accepted : 2022.09.19
  • Published : 2022.10.31
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Abstract

An omnidirectional VR treadmill is a highly-immersive walking simulator that allows identical body movements, such as walking, running, and sitting. However, the operation difficulty of an omnidirectional VR treadmill may cause data reliability problems. Therefore, this study aims to verify the effectiveness of a VR treadmill by comparing the ability to orient in the real and virtual worlds spatially. For this purpose, a rotating and searching path experiment was conducted with participants. This experiment showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the ability of the participants to orient in the real and virtual worlds spatially. In addition, the omnidirectional VR treadmill requires an adaptation time for the users due to the difficulty in the treadmill operation. However, there was no significant difference in the difficulty felt by the participants according to the adaptation time. Hence, these findings supported the possibility of collecting realistic walking data without safety concerns through an omnidirectional VR treadmill. Furthermore, this treadmill could be used in future research to solve problems directly related to pedestrian safety, such as the interaction between vehicles and pedestrians.

전방향 VR 트레드밀은 걷기, 뛰기, 앉기 등 신체 동작을 현실적으로 수행할 수 있어 가상환경에 대한 몰입도가 높은 보행 시뮬레이터이다. 하지만 현실동작을 모사한 시뮬레이터이므로 조작 난이도가 높아 데이터의 신뢰성 문제를 야기할 수 있다. 따라서, 본 연구는 현실 및 일반적인 VR 조건과의 공간지향 능력 비교를 통해 전방향 VR 트레드밀의 유효성 검증을 목적으로 한다. 이를 위해 참가자의 공간지향 능력을 정량적으로 분석할 수 있는 회전 및 경로탐색 실험이 설계되었다. 실험 결과, 각 환경 조건 사이에서 공간지향 능력에 대해 유의한 차이가 없는 것으로 나타났다. 특히, 현실 및 VR 조건 사이에서 주관적인 난이도에 대해 유의한 차이가 발견되지 않았다. 이러한 연구 결과는 전방향 VR 트레드밀을 통해 안전 문제없이 양질의 데이터를 수집할 수 있음을 뒷받침한다. 나아가 차량과 보행자 사이의 상호작용과 같은 안전과 직결된 문제를 해결하기 위한 연구에 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

본 과제(결과물)는 2022년도 교육부의 재원으로 한국연구재단의 지원을 받아 수행된 지자체-대학 협력기반 지역혁신 사업의 결과입니다.(2021RIS-004)

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