Multimodal Mitigations for Cybersickness in Motion Base Simulators

Abstract

1.BackgroundVirtual reality (VR) technologies that integrate with motion-base simulators (MBS) have the potential to accelerate personnel training and enhance workplace safety. Motion sickness on an MBS is a widespread problem with vast individual differences that are likely related to idiosyncrasies in estimates of head, body, and vehicle motions. When combined with head-mounted VR, we term the emergent symptoms cybersickness. MethodsWe conducted two experiments that evaluated cybersickness mitigations in an MBS. In Experiment 1 (N = 8), we tested the effectiveness of a light-touch body harness attached to a mobile-elevated work platform (MEWP) simulator during two nauseogenic VR tasks. In Experiment 2 (N = 14, 7 of whom completed Experiment 1), we tested the effectiveness of a dynamic field-of-view (dFOV) modifier that adaptively restricted the FOV for vehicle rotations in the same VR tasks. We gathered subjective sickness data and qualitative evaluations of the mitigations after the fact. ResultsWe observed a reduced level of sickness in both Experiment 1 and 2 when mitigations were applied. In Experiment 1, the use of a harness led to a mild decrease in total cybersickness of between 3-11%, which was only significant for the nausea dimension. In Experiment 2, the use of dFOV imparted a large benefit to comfort, up to a 45% improvement. Both mitigations primarily improved comfort in a bumpy trench traversal task. ConclusionsCybersickness mitigations can help to deliver VR training for longer, and to more users. The type of content undertaken should be considered when employing new mitigations.