Influence of walking speed and trunk sway on collision avoidance with a virtual human

During human navigation, vision plays a key role in efficiently guiding movements towards a goal by taking into account the interaction between the environment and the observer. Collision avoidance is comprised of two main aspects: visually perceived information, and behavioral adaptations. Previous research has demonstrated that humans alter their collision avoidance behaviours depending on situational characteristics, such as initial angle and distance. Little is known about the effects of personal characteristics such as an approaching person’s walking pattern. The purpose of the proposed study is to decipher the behavioural variables during collision avoidance with a human avatar at various walking speeds and degrees of trunk sway.
We expect that the walking speed and sway degree of an approaching person will influence navigational strategies, resulting in more conservative behaviours. It is suggested that successful collision avoidance around a human avatar will result in slower reaction and regulation phases when the avatar is walking at a faster rate and with a greater degree of trunk sway to allow for more visual processing of the situation to adequately anticipate future events.

Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Cinelli

Student:

Partner:

Université de Haute Bretagne Rennes 2

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

Wilfrid Laurier University

Program: