“Floating Avatar: Blimp-based Telepresence System for Communication and Entertainment” by Tobita, Maruyama and Kuji

  • ©Hiroaki Tobita, Shigeaki Maruyama, and Takuya Kuji

  • ©Hiroaki Tobita, Shigeaki Maruyama, and Takuya Kuji

Conference:


Entry Number: 04

Title:


    Floating Avatar: Blimp-based Telepresence System for Communication and Entertainment

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Description:


    We have created a unique telepresence system for communications and entertainment whereby users can share visual and sound information and express their feelings and impressions more directly than when using conventional meeting systems. We mainly focused on two features to create a unique avatar—its presence in the real world and its ability to interact with people— and created a system based on a blimp. Blimps are physical, not virtual, so they can be used as avatars in the real world. We installed a projector as the output function inside the blimp so that our system can work as a display and express the user’s attributes. A camera and microphone mounted on the outside of the blimp provide the input function, which means the user can control the blimp from a distance through the network. The proposed system makes unique network communications between floating avatars and humans a legitimate possibility.

References:


    BERK, J., AND MITTER, N. Autonomous light air vessels (ALAVs), in Proceedings of ACM Multimedia ’06, pp. 1029–1030, 2006.

    YOSHIMOTO, H., Jo, K., AND HORI, K. Design of Installation with Interactive UAVs, in Proceedings of ACM ACE ’08, p. 424, 2008.

    PAULOS, E., AND CANNY, J. PRoP: Personal Roving Presence, in Proceedings of ACM CHI ’98, pp. 296-303, 1998.


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©Hiroaki Tobita, Shigeaki Maruyama, and Takuya Kuji ©Hiroaki Tobita, Shigeaki Maruyama, and Takuya Kuji

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