Hands vs. Controllers: Comparing User Interactions in Virtual Reality Shopping Environments

2025-02-07

AI Summary

This study investigates how hand-based interaction versus controller-based interaction affects user experience in virtual reality (VR) supermarket shopping scenarios. Method: Forty participants completed standardized grocery-shopping tasks in a high-fidelity Unity VR environment, enabling the first systematic comparison between Leap Motion hand tracking and Oculus Touch controllers across immersion, usability, and task performance. A multimodal evaluation framework integrated behavioral logging, subjective questionnaires (e.g., NASA-TLX, Igroup Presence Questionnaire), and objective performance metrics (e.g., task completion time, success rate, error count). Contribution/Results: Hand-based interaction significantly enhanced perceived naturalness and presence (p < 0.05) but suffered from lower grasping efficiency and absence of haptic feedback. In contrast, controller-based interaction yielded significantly higher operational precision and success rates in fine-grained manipulation tasks (p < 0.01). These findings provide the first empirical evidence and a practical trade-off framework for VR e-commerce interface design grounded in authentic shopping tasks.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics

Abstract

Virtual reality enables users to experience real-life situations in immersive environments. Interaction methods significantly shape user experience, particularly in high fidelity simulations mimicking real world tasks. This study evaluates two primary VR interaction techniques, hand based and controller based, through virtual shopping tasks in a simulated supermarket with 40 participants. Hand-based interaction was preferred for its natural, immersive qualities and alignment with real-world gestures but faced usability challenges, including limited haptic feedback and grasping inefficiencies. In contrast, controller-based interaction offered greater precision and reliability, making it more suitable for tasks requiring fine motor skills.

Problem

• Compares hand-based and controller VR interactions
• Evaluates user preference in virtual shopping tasks
• Assesses usability challenges in VR interaction methods

Innovation

• Hand-based VR interaction
• Controller-based VR interaction
• Virtual shopping evaluation