Using Voice Commands to Enhance the Navigation in Virtual Reality on a Smart Phone

Currently, virtual reality (VR) is a major topic. In a post on his Facebook page on January 26, 2017, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has again promoted his “belief that virtual and augmented reality will be the next major computing platform” (Zuckerberg, 2017). Virtual reality gives the user the feeling of being immersed in a virtual world. A possible business application of VR therefore is useful for architects wanting to showcase their work. Potential clients can take a virtual tour through the house designed by the architect. To gain a realistic feeling of the building, the clients should be able to walk freely through the building and look around as they wish. Walking freely and looking around can either be supported or limited by the navigation method used within virtual reality. For a business application based on virtual reality, an application designed for Google Cardboard would reach the broadest user base, since Google Cardboards are very inexpensive and can be used with every VR ready smart phone. However, Google Cardboard offers only one button as an interaction option. In view of this constraint, a few navigation methods, that allow users to walk around freely, have been designed by VR researchers and application developers. One of the navigation method is the gaze-directed steering, with which users walk at a certain speed in the direction they look. Another navigation method is the target-directed steering, which allows users to choose a target location to which they are then moved automatically. To solve the problem of having limited interaction possibility for business VR applications, which run on smart phones, this thesis proposes a further navigation method: The navigation by voice commands....