Performance and User Preference of Various Functions for Mapping Hand Position to Movement Velocity in a Virtual Environment

• Published in: Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality pp. 141 - 152
• Main Authors: Nai, Weizhi, Rempel, David, Liu, Yue, Barr, Alan, Harris-Adamson, Carisa, Wang, Yongtian
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: Navigation technique; Velocity control
• ISBN: 331957986X; 9783319579863
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-57987-0_12

This study evaluated the effect of different hand-position-to-velocity mapping functions on user performance and preference for freehand gesture navigation in a virtual environment. Three parameters of the velocity mapping function were evaluated: hand position to velocity slope, linearity and size of the zero-velocity area around the resting hand position (e.g., dead zone). 16 subjects completed a forward movement task in a virtual environment with different distances and sizes of target-destinations. Time to complete the tasks was significantly influenced by velocity slope and linearity. Subjective usability ratings were influenced by all three parameters. When optimized, free-hand gestures provide a functional form of human-computer interaction in a virtual environment.