The paper “How VR Systems Impact Virtual Navigation for Blind People”, co-authored by LASIGE’s researchers Manuel Piçarra and João Guerreiro, was accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), a top-ranked journal (Q1).

The paper will be presented at the IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2026), a top-ranked venue (CORE A*), to be held in Bari, Italy, from October 5 to 9, 2026.

In this paper, the authors explored how the use of VR and game controllers affects the performance of blind people during virtual navigation tasks. Additionally, they observed how participants performed under varying cognitive demands, as virtual environments can offer varying degrees of complexity. Their findings showed that VR improved navigation performance, whereas adding a simultaneous cognitive task decreased performance in both conditions (VR and Game Controllers).