Swimming Across the Pacific: A Novel Swimming Interface for VR

Locomotion interfaces to virtual reality environments present many challenges as well as exciting opportunities. Many researchers have examined classes of human movement such as walking, flying, and bicycling as means of locomotion in VR. By contrast, little has been explored in swimming. We outline the current state of development of the Swimming Across the Pacific (SAP) project which aims to replicate the feel of swimming in a virtual environment. Unlike other explorations into virtual swimming, SAP centres on the locomotive aspect of swimming staying afloat and moving on the surface of the water. The SAP system is comprised of the swimming harness and a virtual ocean environment. The harness suspends the swimmer in a prone position that allows for swimming motions, while the accompanying graphic system renders the scene of sky, sea waves and ocean floor. Sensors on the swimmer’s wrists, legs, and head are used to synchronise the virtual counterpart seen from the firstperson perspective through a head-mounted display. Initial user feedback suggests that our system is capable of providing a sensation of swimming without highly sophisticated hardware.