Immersion Without Instability: A Digital Twin Approach to Solve Imbalance Issues in Virtual Reality

Many users experience a noticeable loss of balance the moment they put on a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, even if they were stable just a few moments before. This sudden change is often caused by a sensory conflict: when the visual senses from the VR environment mismatch the body’s natural balance signals. As a result, users may feel disoriented, unstable, or hesitant to engage fully in an immersive environment. To address this, we propose a digital twin (DTw) system to monitor and manage balance in real time. The DTw continuously logs sensor data from the VR headset and controllers, creating a live virtual representation of the user’s physical state. By analyzing these data, it can identify the conditions under which users are most likely to lose balance and adjust the VR sensor data accordingly. This includes dynamically tuning motion sensitivity, visual flow, and other sensor parameters to minimize sensory conflict from the beginning of the experience. Our goal is to support safer and more comfortable VR immersion by enabling systems to understand and adapt to each user’s balance needs, not after an imbalance occurs, but before it even begins.