G.M. Mair

Telepresence-the technology and its economic and social implications

Telepresence is the experience of being present at a real world location remote from ones own immediate physical environment. This is much more than simple teleconferencing since it attempts to allow the user to feel immersed in the remote environment and to be able, through teleoperation, to manipulate or control remote events. By using the Strathclyde Transparent Telepresence Research Group and the Strathclyde Telepresence System as examples the paper considers the organisation and technology that makes a telepresence system possible. It examines the current limitations of such systems and their eventual potential. The typical applications, present and future, of telepresence systems are noted before going on to discuss the economic and social implications of these applications. The paper is intended to stimulate further thought on possible future advantages and disadvantages of this emerging technology.

Membrane-mirror-based autostereoscopic display for tele-operation and teleprescence applications

An autostereoscopic display for telepresence and tele- operation applications has been developed at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. The research is a collaborative effort between the Imaging Group and the Transparent Telepresence Research Group, both based at Strathclyde. A key component of the display is the directional screen; a 1.2-m diameter Stretchable Membrane Mirror is currently used. This patented technology enables large diameter, small f No., mirrors to be produced at a fraction of the cost of conventional optics. Another key element of the present system is an anthropomorphic and anthropometric stereo camera sensor platform. Thus, in addition to mirror development, research areas include sensor platform design focused on sight, hearing, research areas include sensor platform design focused on sight, hearing, and smell, telecommunications, display systems for all visual, aural and other senses, tele-operation, and augmented reality. The sensor platform is located at the remote site and transmits live video to the home location. Applications for this technology are as diverse as they are numerous, ranging from bomb disposal and other hazardous environment applications to tele-conferencing, sales, education and entertainment.

Transparent telepresence research

This article outlines some of the recent telepresence and teleoperation work being carried out in the Transparent Telepresence Research Group at the University of Strathclyde. Teleoperation work involving remotely operated vehicles, remote sensor platforms, and remote manipulators is described. The implementation of head slaved monoscopic and stereoscopic camera platforms, binaural microphone and pinnae systems, and image and audio processing with integrated virtual reality is discussed. The most recent medium for long distance communication used by the group has been, uniquely, cellular mobile phone technology. The implications of using this very low bit‐rate communication method are discussed.

The impact of head movements on user involvement in mediated interaction

Communication takes place not only through speech, but also through gestures such as facial expressions, gaze, head movements, hand movements and body posture. Although developing rapidly, current communication platforms do not facilitate the types of behaviour we believe are needed to fully support non-verbal communication and make interactions more engaging and efficient. In this paper, we decided to focus our research specifically on the head rather than any other body part as it is a rich source of information for speech-related movement. Thus we aim in this study to investigate the value of incorporating head movements into the use of telepresence robots as communication platforms; by means of investigating a system that manually reproduces head movement as closely as possible. The essential quantitative results revealed no significant differences on any of the measures we used. However, the qualitative information from the experiment indicates of further research will be useful in this area. These findings suggest that an enclose body language are required for a real-time communication beside the head nodding. We examine engagement within conversational behaviours of the subject when interacting with a socially expressive system.We found real-time communication requires more than verbal communication, and head nodding.Head nodding effects depend on precise on-screen movement by synchronize the on-screen movement with the head movement.

Integrating virtual reality and telepresence to remotely monitor construction sites: A ViRTUE project

The paper presents VIRTUE, a funded research project, which aims to integrate the Virtual Reality (VR), Telepresence (TP) and mobile video telecommunications technologies. A mobile, real-time, 3D-hybrid VR/TP system is being built at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. A system prototype has been completed and is being tested. The system will permit the user to integrate telepresence images with computer generated virtual environments superimposed over the remote real worldview. This integrated system incorporates emerging mobile telecommunications technologies to give rapid and easy access to the real and virtual construction sites from arbitrary locations. This system allows remote surveillance of the construction site, and integration of real world images of the site with virtual reality representations, derived from planning models, for progress monitoring.

Towards transparent telepresence

It is proposed that the concept of transparent telepresence can be closely approached through high fidelity technological mediation. It is argued that the matching of the system capabilities to those of the human user will yield a strong sense of immersion and presence at a remote site. Some applications of such a system are noted. The concept is explained and critical system elements are described together with an overview of some of the necessary system specifications.

Hybrid virtual reality and telepresence utilising mobile phone technology

An overview of the design and application of a unique mobile hybrid telepresence and virtual reality system is first provided. This is followed by a description of each of the integrated sub-systems. These include the telepresence and teleoperation sub-system comprising display, control, and communication elements together with camera platforms and a mobile vehicle, a virtual reality module capable of modeling capable of modeling a 4D civil engineering environment, in this case a construction site, and the image compression and decompression techniques which allow the video from the remote site to be transmitted across a very low bandwidth mobile phone network. The mobile telepresence system can be located on a real world construction site to observe work in progress. This video information can be accessed by a user from any remote location and compared with the VR model of planned progress. The user can then guide the vehicle and camera system to any desired viewpoint. Illustrations of the first trials of the full system, comments on problems experienced, and suggestions for further work are provided.

Mechatronics applied to auditory localisation for telepresence

This paper describes the importance of the sense of hearing for immersive telepresence systems, and a fundamental approach to designing and implementing a binaural sensor system. This approach relies on knowledge of how the human auditory localisation mechanisms work to locate sounds in space, in order that a synthetic system can be derived. The most important of these mechanisms are explained. The Strathclyde auditory system is then described including ideas drawn from the literature to define a binaural approach. This novel system consists of a set of artificial pinnae and microphones mounted on a binocular stereo sensor platform capable of pan, tilt and roll which is slaved to a head tracking system. A set of preliminary experiments is described which test the performance of the system in practice, as a basis for further development.

Fact and fiction merge in telepresence and teleoperation: a present and future perspective

This paper examines current trends in commercially available products and research related to telepresence and teleoperation systems. It also compares them with some aspects of speculative fiction directly related to these systems and their human interface. The presentation of the results in the form of a parallel timeline highlights the research gaps that remain to be filled in order to obtain the ideal telepresence system in which the technological mediation becomes as transparent as in fictional representations.

Desktop Scanner Metrology

An investigation is presented of a low cost approach to the measurement of two and three dimensional objects using a flatbed scanner and image analysis software. Conventional measurement using relatively low cost instruments such as micrometers and vernier callipers can be time consuming and requires operator skills which result in higher overall costs. The increasing resolution and decreasing prices of flatbed scanners introduces the possibility of their use as a low cost alternative to traditional manual measuring. To investigate this, a simple dimensional measurement technique was developed using an unmodified, then a modified, flatbed scanner, a standard PC, and software. A dimensional accuracy of ±0.05 mm was achieved with a modified flatbed scanner system for slip gauge samples of nominal thickness 10mm and 5mm.