Real-Time Avatar Feedback in Virtual Reality Exercise

National Information Processing Institute

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy Participants

Treatments: Behavioral: VR Exercise With Verbal Avatar Feedback; Behavioral: VR Exercise With Verbal and Gestural Avatar Feedback; Behavioral: VR Exercise With No Avatar Feedback

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07384065

4959.13336.14519

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to examine whether real-time feedback provided by a virtual trainer avatar during virtual reality (VR) exercise influences participants' exercise well-being and movement accuracy. The study also aims to compare different types of feedback delivered by the avatar.

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

Does real-time avatar feedback improve exercise well-being during VR-based training?

Does real-time avatar feedback improve movement accuracy during exercise?

Are there differences between no feedback, verbal feedback, and combined verbal-gestural feedback?

Researchers will compare three VR exercise conditions: no feedback, verbal feedback, and combined verbal-gestural feedback, using a randomized crossover design so that each participant experiences all conditions.

Participants will:

Take part in three VR exercise sessions, each lasting approximately 15 minutes

Complete the sessions under different feedback conditions, with the order randomized

Perform guided physical exercises while wearing a VR headset and following a virtual trainer avatar

Provide self-reported ratings of exercise experience after each session

This study is an interventional, randomized crossover trial conducted in adults, with all procedures completed during a single study period.

Full description

his study investigates the effects of real-time feedback delivered by a virtual trainer avatar during exercise performed in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The intervention is designed to examine how different modes of avatar feedback influence the exercise experience and movement performance during short, guided training sessions.

The study uses a randomized crossover design, in which each participant completes multiple VR exercise sessions under different feedback conditions. The order of conditions is randomized to control for sequence and learning effects. The feedback conditions differ only in the type of information provided by the avatar and include: no feedback, verbal feedback, and combined verbal-gestural feedback. All other aspects of the VR environment, exercise content, and session duration are kept constant across conditions.

The VR application presents a virtual trainer avatar that demonstrates and guides a standardized set of physical exercises. A custom algorithm processes real-time motion data captured by the VR system, including parameters related to movement pace and range of motion. Based on this analysis, the avatar delivers adaptive feedback during the exercise session according to the assigned condition. In the no-feedback condition, the avatar performs the exercises without providing corrective or motivational input.

Each VR session lasts approximately 15 minutes and is separated from the subsequent session by a fixed 7-day interval to minimize carryover effects. The study is conducted within a single study period, and all procedures are completed after participants finish the final VR session. The intervention does not involve any pharmacological treatment or medical devices regulated for clinical use; VR hardware is used solely as a research tool to deliver the exercise environment and capture movement data.

This study is classified as an interventional behavioral trial and is intended to contribute to research on virtual trainers, human-computer interaction, and technology-supported physical activity by systematically examining the role of real-time avatar feedback in VR-based exercise.

Enrollment: 28 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 50 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adults aged 18-50 years
• Ability to provide informed consent
• Ability to perform light to moderate physical exercise
• No contraindications to participation in virtual reality-based exercise

Exclusion criteria

• Age below 18 or above 50 years
• Individuals with a high level of habitual physical activity, defined as engaging in structured physical exercise more than three times per week
• Musculoskeletal, neurological, or cardiovascular conditions that limit safe participation in exercise
• Known susceptibility to severe motion sickness or adverse reactions to virtual reality
• Any condition preventing safe use of a VR headset

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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28 participants in 3 patient groups

No Feedback

Experimental group

Description:

Participants perform a virtual reality exercise session without receiving any real-time feedback from the virtual trainer avatar.

Treatment:

Behavioral: VR Exercise With No Avatar Feedback

Verbal Feedback

Experimental group

Description:

Participants perform a virtual reality exercise session while receiving real-time verbal feedback from the virtual trainer avatar.

Treatment:

Behavioral: VR Exercise With Verbal Avatar Feedback

Verbal and Gestural Feedback

Experimental group

Description:

Participants perform a virtual reality exercise session while receiving combined real-time verbal and gestural feedback from the virtual trainer avatar.

Treatment:

Behavioral: VR Exercise With Verbal and Gestural Avatar Feedback