Effect of Ambulatory Conditions and Virtual Locomotion Techniques on Distance Estimation and Motion Sickness of a Navigated VR Environment

We present preliminary results from a 2 X 2 between-subjects experiment. Our two IVs were ambulatory-restrictive (i.e., without locomotion) postural conditions (sitting vs. standing), and virtual navigation techniques (steering vs. teleporting). Participants navigated a complex virtual environment comprising outdoor and indoor environments for 10 minutes. We found that teleporting may result in less online distance estimation error than steering. Motion sickness was lower while teleporting than steering and when sitting than standing. Teleporting also resulted in better system usability than steering. We discuss the results' implications for VR usability.