Evaluation of Two Leaning-Based Control Mechanisms in a Dragon Riding Interface

In this paper we present a dragon rider 3D flight interface which allows users to intuitively control the movement of a fantasy dragon in a virtual world by leaning their body in a seated position. We introduce two different approaches to measure the user’s leaning state in the real world, one using a Wii Balance Board to measure the distribution of the user’s weight on the seat and the other using a Kinect to track the user’s upper bodyskeleton. We compared the two methods in an experiment focusing on the usability, sense of presence and efficiency in a 3D flight task in a virtual environment presented on a headmounted display. While both approaches were considered as intuitive by our participants, our results indicate that tracking the user’s upper body with a Kinect was preferred by the participants and estimated as more usable than via shifts in the user’s weight.

@InProceedings\{BHHNSLB16,
  author       = "Bimberg, Pauline and Heidenreich, Philipp and Hertel, Julia and Neu, Franziska and Schulte, Britta and Lubos, Paul and Bruder, Gerd",
  title        = "Evaluation of Two Leaning-Based Control Mechanisms in a Dragon Riding Interface",
  booktitle    = "Proceedings of the GI Workshop on Virtual and Augmented Reality (GI VR/AR)",
  pages        = "109--116",
  year         = "2016",
  editor       = "Pfeiffer, Thies and Fröhlich, Julia and Kruse(Hg.), Rolf ",
  publisher    = "Shaker Verlag",
  address      = "Aachen",
  keywords     = "dragonrider",
  url          = "http://basilic.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/Publications/2016/BHHNSLB16"
}