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Biomechanics of Walking in Real World: Naturalness we Wish to Reach in Virtual Reality

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Human Walking in Virtual Environments

Abstract

In most virtual reality (VR) simulations the virtual world is larger than the real walking workspace. The workspace is often bounded by the tracking area or the display devices. Hence, many researchers have proposed technical solutions to make people walk through large virtual spaces using various types of metaphors and multisensory feedback. To achieve this goal it is necessary to understand how people walk in real life. This chapter reports biomechanical data describing human walking including kinematics, dynamics and energetics knowledge for straight line and nonlinear walking. Reference and normative values are provided for most of these variables, which could help developers and researchers improve the naturalness of walking in large virtual environments, or to propose evaluation metrics. For each section of this chapter, we will provide some potential applications in VR. On the one hand, this type of knowledge could be used to design more natural interaction devices such as omnidirectional treadmills, walk-in-place methods, or other facilities. A specific section is dedicated to comparisons between treadmill and ground walking as it is one of the most popular approaches in VR. On the other hand, this knowledge could also be useful to improve the quality of multisensory feedback when walking, such as adding sounds, vibrations, or more natural camera control.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Rennes2, Campus La Harpe, Av. Charles Tillon, CS24414, F35044 , Rennes, France

    Franck Multon

  2. Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu, F35042 , Rennes, France

    Anne-Hélène Olivier

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  1. Franck Multon
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  2. Anne-Hélène Olivier
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Correspondence to Franck Multon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Würzburg, Oswald-Külpe-Weg 82, Würzburg, 97074, Germany

    Frank Steinicke

  2. Drexel University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineerin, Philadelphia, 19104, Pennsylvania, USA

    Yon Visell

  3. University of Toronto,  Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Univ, University Ave 550, Toronto, M5G 2A2, Ontario, Canada

    Jennifer Campos

  4. Computer Science and Control (INRIA), National Institute for Research in, Campus de Beaulie, Rennes Cedex, 35042, France

    Anatole Lécuyer

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Multon, F., Olivier, AH. (2013). Biomechanics of Walking in Real World: Naturalness we Wish to Reach in Virtual Reality . In: Steinicke, F., Visell, Y., Campos, J., Lécuyer, A. (eds) Human Walking in Virtual Environments. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8432-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8432-6_3

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