Can't Nobody Stop Me! Non-Euclidean Portal Reset for Continuous Walking in Virtual Reality

Redirected walking (RDW) allows people to explore large virtual environments while walking within a smaller physical space. When physical space is limited, explicit resets such as turn-in-place are unavoidable. Previous studies have reduced the frequency of resets by adjusting user paths. However, resets remain necessary under severe spatial constraints. The frequent use of turn-in-place resets interrupts locomotion and can degrade task performance and user experience. We present Non-Euclidean Portal Reset (NEPR), a reset technique that enables continuous experiences without pausing the user's walking. When a collision risk is detected, NEPR opens a virtual portal leading to a short, non-Euclidean corridor. Traversing the corridor repositions and reorients the user. The exit returns the user near the point of interest target in the primary world, maintaining flow. To evaluate the effectiveness of NEPR, we conducted user experiments comparing (1) the conventional turn-in-place reset, (2) NEPR, and (3) a hybrid method combining both approaches. Our results demonstrate that NEPR and the combined technique significantly improve the user experience and task performance compared to the traditional method. Overall, NEPR reframes resets as seamless transitions rather than interruptions, enhancing the practicality of RDW.