🚶‍➡️Not All WIP Are Perceived Equally: Different Speed Expectations in Seated Walk-in-Place Locomotion

ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST) 2025 (To Appear)

ACM DL (TBA) arXiv (TBA) Video (TBA)
yusuke portrait
Yusuke Kitaura1
keigo portrait
Keigo Hattori1
fumihiko portrait
Fumihiko Nakamura1
yuta portrait
Yuta Kataoka1
fumihisa portrait
Fumihisa Shibata1
asako portrait
Asako Kimura1*
shohei portrait
Shohei Mori2*

1Ritsumeikan University, 2University of Stuttgart, * Shared last authorship

kitaura_vrst25_teaser.jpg
Three gesture-based VR locomotion techniques studied in this research: (a) Alternate swinging of the arms back and forth (Swing-in-Place; SIP); (b) Alternate grasping of the hands (Grip-in-Place; GIP); (c) Alternate raising and lowering of the heel (Tap-in-Place; TIP). Despite using a uniform speed calculation based on gesture tempo, these techniques elicited different user expectations of walking speed.

Abstract Gesture-based locomotion enhances immersion in virtual reality (VR), with seated motion being crucial for accessibility and prolonged use. However, existing techniques often apply uniform gesture-to-walking speed mappings, ignoring the fact that different gestures involve varying levels of physical effort and subjective impressions. This mismatch can degrade the user experience. This study investigates how three seated gestures with different physical loads—Tap-in-Place (TIP), Swing-in-Place (SIP), and Grip-in-Place (GIP)—influence users' expected walking speed. While the evaluations revealed unique experiential trade-offs for each gesture, our primary finding is a consistent perceptual pattern in the expectation of walking speed: Users expected to walk fastest with SIP, followed by GIP, then TIP (SIP > GIP > TIP). These results demonstrate that a one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient and provide empirical recommendations for designing more intuitive seated VR locomotion systems that align walking speed with user perception.

BibTex 
@inproceedings{kitaura_vrst25,
    author={Kitaura, Yusuke and Hattori, Keigo and Nakamura, Fumihiko and Kataoka, Yuta and Shibata, Fumihisa and Kimura, Asako and Mori, Shohei},
    booktitle={ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST)}, 
    title={Not All WIP Are Perceived Equally: Different Speed Expectations in Seated Walk-in-Place Locomotion}, 
    year={2025}
}

Acknowledgement We would like to thank Dr. Peter Mohr-Ziak and Dr. Ana Stanescu for their cooperation in photo sessions for the teaser figure.