HCC: Small: Telecollaboration in Physical Spaces

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to develop and evaluate novel methods for telecollaboration - remote collaboration that effectively integrates video and voice communication, computer vision based tracking, and augmented reality display in order to enable participants to more fully leverage the local physical environment in their remote interactions. In this telecollaboration paradigm, remote and local users will interact with the physical environment using models derived from live imagery from a camera that the local user holds or wears, rather than merely passively viewing the video stream. A key aspect of the approach is that it does not require preparation of the environment or model information, so it can be viewed as an "anywhere, anytime" mobile communication technology. Intellectual merit: The proposed research builds on promising preliminary work on telecollaboration showing the effectiveness of world-stabilized "telepointers" - markers controlled by the remote user that stick to the real-world referents in a dynamic environment. The project will advance the state of the art in remote collaboration by providing new capabilities to integrate real and virtual, verbal and spatial, local and remote. The proposed developments are needed in order to make the physical space a more fundamental part of telecollaboration, and significant user studies will be conducted to acquire a better understanding of the opportunities and limitations of physically-grounded remote interaction. Broader impacts: Better, more compelling tools for telecollaboration can have a tremendous impact in terms of productivity and environmental consequences, as improved remote interaction reduces the need for physical collocation and thus travel. The educational impacts of the project include the training and mentoring of graduate students and a new seminar course. The research team will disseminate research results and collected data widely and use the developed technologies to provide outreach opportunities for select groups to participate in lab open houses.