Human Movement Tracking as Fine Grained Position Input for Wide Area Virtual Reality

The paper describes current progress towards providing untethered relative location tracking in a wide area setting for virtual reality applications. The goal is to allow a user to walk and turn in a virtual space by walking in the real world. Our implementation uses accelerometer and gyroscope sensors on to the user’s ankles to detect and track leg motion. Tracking is detailed, picking up not just steps, but also the size and timing of those step. Estimated location change information is communicated wirelessly to a stand-alone virtual reality headset where it is used to drive player movement in a game setting. Small scale testing has established that the system provides a comfortable movement experience in which users can confidently get from point to point. It has also identified issues concerning: maintenance of stability in direction estimation; detection of sideways steps; and lag from detection to observed movement.