Virtual Reality Guardian Systems for Persons with Standing or Walking Difficulties

Virtual reality (VR) systems allow users to dive into virtual worlds from almost anywhere. To keep users safe, guardian systems allow the definition of designated play areas and monitor the user’s location within those boundaries. For example, when exiting the play area of a Meta Quest 3, the virtual world will become transparent, and the headset will switch to a see-through mode and display a warning. Inside the play area, users are fully immersed with no visual connection to the outside world. However, this complete immersion can pose problems for people with standing or walking difficulties, as they may need to visually monitor the floor, their feet, or assistive devices such as crutches.

With this thesis, you will address open questions regarding alternative guardian methods that could benefit the VR experience of people with standing or walking difficulties. Your outcome should include the design and implementa- tion of different guardian approaches to support safe movements in VR and a small-scale evaluation study. You will implement your ideas in Unity and work with the Meta Quest 3 VR system.

Task Summary