StylusPort: Investigating Teleportation using Stylus in VR

Paper Title

StylusPort: Investigating Teleportation using Stylus in VR

Publication Info

• Topic area: Stylus-based teleportation and orientation control in virtual reality (VR).
• Keywords: VR teleportation, stylus interaction, gaze-based locomotion, mode switching, orientation control, Point & Teleport, user study, multimodal input, stylus flipping, parabolic raycasting.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Existing VR teleportation techniques often rely on controllers with multiple buttons, which are difficult to map onto styluses due to their limited inputs. Additionally, integrating teleportation with stylus-based workflows like sketching and manipulation remains underexplored.
• Significance: Seamlessly integrating teleportation into stylus-based VR workflows can enhance navigation and interaction efficiency, especially for tasks involving large-scale models or constrained physical spaces.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research has explored Point & Teleport techniques, gaze-based locomotion, and stylus input for VR, but gaps remain in combining these modalities effectively. This paper builds on previous works to address mode switching and orientation control challenges specific to stylus-based teleportation.

Solution

• Proposed approach: StylusPort, a set of teleportation techniques for VR that integrates stylus-based mode switching and orientation control.
• Novelty:
  1. Introduction of a stylus flip gesture for intuitive mode switching between drawing and teleportation.
  2. Development of three orientation control techniques: StylusRoll, StylusPoint, and GazePoint.
  3. Empirical evaluation of the techniques in a controlled user study.
  4. Insights into trade-offs between speed, accuracy, and user preferences for mode switching and orientation control methods.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  1. Mode Switching:
     • Button: A secondary button toggles between drawing and teleportation modes.
     • Flip: Flipping the stylus (changing grip orientation) switches modes.
  2. Orientation Control:
     • StylusRoll: Users roll the stylus to adjust orientation.
     • StylusPoint: Users point the stylus to specify orientation using a second parabolic ray.
     • GazePoint: Users specify orientation by directing their gaze.
  3. User study design: Participants completed teleport-and-orient tasks using combinations of mode switching and orientation control techniques.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Flip was faster for mode switching (p < 0.001) and resulted in higher positioning and orientation accuracy compared to Button.
  • StylusPoint was the fastest and most preferred orientation method, followed by GazePoint, while StylusRoll was the slowest and least preferred.
  • GazePoint showed potential but was limited by eye-tracking accuracy, especially for participants wearing glasses.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Flip reduced cognitive load and improved accuracy compared to Button.
  • StylusPoint provided more intuitive and efficient orientation control than StylusRoll.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Participants (N = 18) performed 120 trials each, testing combinations of two mode-switching methods (Button, Flip) and three orientation techniques (StylusRoll, StylusPoint, GazePoint).
  • Metrics included task completion time, positioning/orientation error, and user preferences.
  • NASA-TLX and Likert-scale ratings were used to assess workload and preferences.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Eye-tracking hardware caused discomfort and limited accuracy.
  • Study focused on controlled environments with limited interactive objects.
  • Future work could explore gaze-based positioning, context-aware Flip gestures, and real-world applications with more complex environments.

Summary

This paper introduces StylusPort, a set of techniques for integrating teleportation into stylus-based VR workflows. The study demonstrates that flipping the stylus for mode switching is faster and more accurate than using a button, while pointing with the stylus (StylusPoint) is the most efficient and preferred method for orientation control. Gaze-based orientation (GazePoint) shows promise but is limited by current eye-tracking technology. These findings provide actionable insights for designing intuitive and efficient teleportation methods in VR, with potential applications extending to controllers and bare-hand interactions.