For realistic and reliable full-body visualization in virtual reality, the HTC VIVE Tracker could be an alternative to highly complex and cost- and effort-intensive motion capture systems such as Vicon. Due to its lighter weight and smaller dimensions, the latest generation of trackers is proving to be very promising for capturing human movements. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of the HTC VIVE Tracker 3.0 compared to the gold-standard Vicon for different arrangements of the base stations and various velocities during an athletic movement. Therefore, the position data from three trackers attached to the hip, knee and ankle of one sporty participant were recorded while riding a bicycle ergometer at different pedaling frequencies and different base station arrangements. As parameters for the measurement accuracy, the trajectories of the linear motion of the knee and the circular motion of the ankle were compared between VIVE and Vicon by calculating the spatial distance from the raw data at each point in time. Both the pedaling frequency and the arrangement of the base stations significantly affected the measurement accuracy, with the lowest pedaling frequency of 80 rpm and the rectangular arrangement recommended by the manufacturer showing the smallest spatial differences of 10.4 mm ± 4.5 mm at the knee and 11.3 mm ± 5.1 mm at the ankle. As the pedaling frequency increased gradually (120 rpm and 160 rpm), the measurement accuracy of the trackers per step decreased less at the knee (approximately 5 mm) than at the ankle (approximately 10 mm). In conclusion, the measurement accuracy for various athletic skills was high enough to enable the visualization of body limbs or the entire body using inverse kinematics in VR on the one hand and, on the other hand, to provide initial insights into the quality of certain techniques at lower speeds in sports science research. However, the VIVE trackers are not suitable for exact biomechanical analyses.

Virtual reality in artistic gymnastics has hardly been researched yet, but could have positive effects on learning movements, particularly on the balance beam, whose width and height demand significant effort. This study aimed to identify suitable gymnastics elements for the execution with a head-mounted display (HMD), considering potential performance impacts related to its size, weight, and limited field of view. Twelve basic elements covering the characteristics of the balance beam were performed by 36 competitive gymnasts (16.5 ± 6.6 years) on a low beam (10 cm) with and without the HTC VIVE Pro Eye HMD, which displayed the real environment through its cameras instead of a virtual one. A helmet with similar dimensions and weight to the HMD was used as a third condition to isolate vision effects. Licensed judges evaluated all trials for recognition and execution based on international scoring rules. Both analyses show that the performance was more impacted by restricted vision than by additional weight. Execution quality varied significantly between the condition with and without HMD for all movement characteristics, although the differences were smaller for jumps, holds/acrobatic non-flight elements and leaps than for elements with turns. Consistent with this, no significant differences in jumps and holds/acrobatic non-flight were found between the original and helmet conditions. In summary, elements without longitudinal axis rotations are well-suited for HMD execution, and results can be improved with better hardware and longer familiarization. Future studies should prioritize good optical resolution, a large field of view, and compact design over low weight when selecting HMDs.