Virtual Bridges. Vertical redirection through multi-sensory feedback (DAAV)

As end-user head mounted displays and tracking technologies become widespread, there is a growing demand for interaction techniques to overcome the limitations of available tracking space. Redirected walking methods have great potential in expanding limited tracking space into limitless virtual environments. However, research mostly concentrates on the two horizontal dimensions.
The aim of this thesis project is to propose a novel redirected walking technique to create the sensation of heights different from the real physical environment. A combination of visual cues and additional multi-sensory stimulation is utilized as users traverse real physical and virtual bridges. A user study will be set up to evaluate the effectiveness and realism of the method. The goal of the project is to find the most effective combination of stimulation and to determine the thresholds of vertical redirection.