Project Averroes: An Effective, Durable, and Consumer-Oriented Solution to the Locomotion Problem in VR Environments

The virtual reality (VR) industry is gaining more and more traction, especially in domains pertaining to experiential education, data visualization, high-risk and scenario-based simulations as well as in gaming and entertainment. Locomotion in VR can be said to be an important part of the ‘immersion’ experience, as it bridges the gap between the physical and virtual environments and is key to developing or training the user's spatial performance in the VR realm. Yet, it is an aspect that does not currently possess a holistic, well-rounded approach to adequately answer all locomotion-related concerns. This paper proposes an effective, durable, and consumer-oriented solution to the locomotion problem in the VR environments. This paper also surveys related works and represents inspiration from various locomotion approaches to achieve a low-cost, feasible and consumer-friendly platform that leverages the best features of all surveyed works and mitigates their respective trade-offs.