Chris Young

IM I/1/12HCC
Background Paper
2.09.17

Moving Worlds: A Cure for Virtual Reality Motion Sickness

 As technology has developed and expanded over the years, new mediums have

become available, surpassing what we previously thought possible. One of the newest

and most promising technology is Virtual Reality (VR). VR enables a person to view and

engage with a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or

environment using an electronic headset. However, as with any technology, there are still

many problems that need to be solved. One of the most notable challenges is simulator

sickness, which is a common reaction to VR, even when the user is stationary. However,

the problem intensifies as the simulations get more realistic and as motion in and out of

the simulation increases. This problem directly affects developers who make software for

the VR headsets, including the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, as well as phone-

based VR systems such as Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear. As VR technology

becomes more widely available, consumers will use VR in more places, including

moving vehicles, which makes solving the challenge of motion sickness a priority. This

research aims to develop a solution to eliminate motion sickness when using VR headsets

in moving vehicles or aircraft. The approach being studied is to adjust the height of the

objects, the artificial horizon, in accordance with the motion of a moving vehicle.

Some VR devices, such as the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive require PC hardware

and motion-based controllers to interact with the computer-generated environment. The

Oculus Rift Developer Kit 2 (DK2) will be used in the experimentto meet this

requirement.

Simulator sickness is a form of motion sickness that is caused by unequal

movement from inside the simulation and in the real world. Its symptoms include nausea,

discomfort, disorientation and vomiting (Kolasinski). The effects of simulator sickness

vary from user to user. Some users experience no signs of nausea using VR programs,

while others experience immediate simulator sickness when using the simplest of

programs (Messing and Durgin). Other factors contributing to simulator sickness besides

motion include the quality of the display of the VR device, field of view/viewing angle,

and lag between the action of the user and actual movement (Messing and Durgin).
Simulator sickness has been researched by many entities, including Columbia

University, U.S. Army Research Institute and the National Center for Biotechnology

Information. A study done by Columbia University mainly focused on adjusting the field

of view based on user movement; however, this conjecture only worked when moving

horizontally as opposed to vertically (Ajoy and Feiner). The U.S. Army Research Institute

and the National Center for Biotechnology Information used a technique of adjusting the

artificial horizon, an approximation of the curvature of the earth, to prevent simulator

sickness. A British company, Flow IFE tested this method and planned to market it, but

closed before doing so (Gray). The approach this study will take is similar to Flow IFE in

that a program will be developed to test the effect of creating an artificial horizon in the

VR headset to help reduce user disorientation. To accomplish this, this study will

determine the effect on the vestibular system of an artificial horizon projected into a VR

headset.
The artificial horizon will be adjusted based on the measurements of the vertical

movements of the user wearing the headset. Adjusting the artificial horizon tricks the

user. The horizon the user sees in the headset is based on the motion of the user. The

initial tests will be done with the test subjects walking up and down stairs and the final

tests will be in a moving car.

The artificial horizon will be implemented using an Android phone, the Samsung

Galaxy S5, as the sensor that measures motion. Unity3D programming tools will adjust
the artificial horizon based on user input. The artificial horizon will be adjusted based on

data from the accelerometer and the gyroscope from the Android phone, which will be

streamed wirelessly to the computer generating the virtual environment. This data will be

used to calculate the position of the virtual horizon in Unity3D. The code also will utilize

user input to change virtual objects in the virtual environment, making them move down

when the moving vehicle increases in altitude and up when the vehicle decreases in

altitude. The objects in the virtual environment will move appropriately until the

movement of the person stabilizes.

The Android phone app Data Collection Free is being used to stream the

accelerometer and gyroscope data from the Galaxy S5 through a wireless connection

between the phone and the laptop computer. The data transferred using the app will be

used to update the VR display using a custom script in Unity3D. The data is sent over the

wireless connection from the Galaxy S5 to the computer running Unity3D in text form.

The program in Unity3D reads in four lines of the test data per frame and uses the data

from the Android phones accelerometer and gyroscope, specifically the difference in

their data values between frames, to change the position of the objects in Unity3D. This

part of the program is being tested, focusing specifically on a cube object in Unity3D.

The next task will be to develop the motion sickness prevention part of the

program. This will address the program feature of when the user, for example in a plane,

moves up in elevation, the objects will seem to move down in the virtual world until the

plane stabilizes in its cruising position and does not have any major changes in altitude.

When the plane goes down, the objects in the plane will move up, making the artificial

horizon appear to do so too, until the plane stabilizes again. This is done so that the
persons vestibular system will adjust when viewing the scene on VR as the plane moves

up and down during the flight. This will allow the viewer to not be effected by the motion

of the plane and become immersed in the virtual environment.

Motion sickness is a problem in VR and generation of artificial horizons in VR

headsets is a potential solution to this problem. The artificial horizon method being

designed is designed to help users adjust to various height changes through the

manipulation of objects in the environment. These methods ensure that using artificial

horizons will be an effective way to prevent motion sickness when using VR headsets.

Sources Cited:
Fernandes, Ajoy S., and Steven K. Feiner. "Combating VR Sickness through Subtle
Dynamic Field-of-view Modification." 2016 IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces
(3DUI) (2016): n. pag. Columbia University. Columbia University, 20 June 2016. Web. 3
Oct. 2016.

Flow IFE Strike Off Notice. "Companies House. British Government, 16 Aug. 2016.
Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Gray, Richard. "The End of Air Sickness? Virtual Reality Headsets Could Prevent Nausea
on Bumpy Flights and Even Tackle Jet Lag." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 22
Apr. 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

Kolasinski, Eugenia M. Simulator Sickness in Virtual Environments. U.S. Army

Research Institute, May 1995. Web. 2 Oct. 2016..

Messing, Ross, and Frank H. Durgin. "Distance Perception and the Visual Horizon in
Head-Mounted Displays." ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 2.3 (2005): 234-50.
Swarthmore University. July 2005. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

"Mal de debarquement, motion sickness and the effect of an artificial horizon. National
Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2014. Web. 10
Oct. 2016.