Design and Comfort Evaluation of a Novel Locomotion Device for Training Overhead Traveling Crane Operators in a Virtual Environment

The development of locomotion devices that provide users a sense of walking while their positions remain localized in the physical world is still one of the major problems in current virtual reality research. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a novel locomotion device for training the overhead traveling crane operators in a virtual environment. The locomotion device employs a circular platform with hundreds of spherical rollers on it. A hoop combined with an airbag is used to constrain the position of the user, so that the user can walk on the rollers in a “step-and-slide” pattern. The user can also walk and change directions freely without holding on the hoop. When the user steps on the rollers, the switches underneath the rollers sense the motion of the feet. Two-dimensional walking data can be acquired successfully, and the user does not have to wear any special shoes or obstructive sensors other than the head-mounted display. A comfort evaluation is also performed to compare the sense of walking on the locomotion device and that of natural walking.