AI and Data Science at University of Northampton

Mu, M., Dohan, M. “Unstuck in Metaverse: Persuasive User Navigation using Automated Avatars”, to appear in IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE, 2023

Were you ever lost in a new place that you are visiting? What do you do when that happens? In an established and populous area, Google Maps or asking someone for directions may be the best choice. In rural locations, experienced mountaineers would use surroundings such as terrain features to track where they are.

Now, how about getting lost in VR? As the metaverse (large-scale virtual environments) become increasingly grander and more complex, it is inevitable that VR users will find themselves disoriented and effectively getting stuck in a strange corner of the virtual space. Research has shown that humans must plan their movements with sufficient specialist knowledge to navigate successfully. In the metaverse, users may not always be willing to spend the time to develop the required spatial…