Effect of Turning Strategy on Maneuvering Ability Using the Treadport Locomotion Interface

Turning strategies on the Sarcos Treadport, a linear treadmill locomotion interface, are developed and compared in a tight maneuvering task. A rate control strategy employing sidestep is compared to a proportional control strategy employing head gaze and torso trigger. The maneuvering task involves walking down a narrow corridor and avoiding obstacles that are placed at different separations to change the task difficulty. The performance metric was the number of times a subject collided with the obstacles or the corridor’s walls. Traversal time and traversal distance were also characterized. The proportional control strategy was clearly found to permit more-precise maneuvering.