Walking experience by real-scene optic flow with synchronized vibrations on feet

Abstract

We developed a walking recording and experiencing system. For the recording we captured stereo motion images from two cameras attached to a person's forehead with synchronized data of ankles' accelerations. For the experiencing we presented 3-D motion images with binocular disparity on a head-mounted display and vibrations to user's feet. The vibration was made from a sound of shoes when a person walked. We found that users subjectively reported the 3-D motion images with synchronized foot vibrations elicited stronger feelings of walking, leg motion, footsteps, and tele-existence than without vibrations in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, participants' self-localization drifted in the direction of virtual walking after experiencing other walker's visual sight with the synchronized foot vibrations. These results suggest that our walking experiencing system gave users somewhat active walking feelings.