Telexistence

The following sections are included:

• About the Author
• Preface
• Contents

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, “virtual” is defined as existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact or form. Thus, virtual reality is an entity which contains the essence of reality and is effectively real. It can provide a basis for technology which enables humans to experience events and act in a computer-synthesized environment just as if they were in a real environment. Although telexistence (tel–existence) is essentially the same concept as virtual reality, it takes a different point of view. It represents a new concept, which frees humans from the restrictions of time and space and allows them to be effectively present in places other than their current location as well as to interact with those remote environments, which may be real, computer-synthesized, or a combination of both. Thus, virtual reality and telexistence are essentially the same concept expressed in a different manner. Usually, virtual reality is used for computer-synthesized worlds, while telexistence is used for the real world. However, both concepts can be regarded as tools for communication, control, and creation (the 3Cs) or entertainment, experience/education, and elucidation (the 3Es).

The short history of robots includes the creation of first- through fourth-generation robots as well as two different philosophies regarding robot design, namely designing robots as independent beings versus designing robots as alter egos. The design philosophy of human augmentation is also introduced. A dream that humans have had for a long time is to raise their abilities up to their highest possible levels and thus become superhuman — the idea of augmenting and extending human abilities using science and technology. Human augmentation (or AH — augmented human) augments not only the senses and intellect of humans, but also their physical motions and abilities to transcend time and space. Human augmentation in time and space is termed as telexistence.

Essentially telexistence is a concept which refers to technology which allows a human to have a real-time sensation of being present in a place other than where he or she is actually located and to interact with the remote environment, which can be real, virtual, or a combination of both. It also refers to an advanced type of teleoperation system, which enables an operator at the controls to perform remote tasks dexterously with the sensation of being inside a surrogate robot working in the remote environment. The application of telexistence in real environments through a virtual environment is also possible.

The following sections are included:

• Telexistence Visual Display
  • Design Concept of Telexistence Visual Display
  • Design Method and Procedures of Telexistence Visual Display
  • Visual Display Prototypes
    • Visual Display Unit
    • Experimental Visual Display System
  • Evaluation of the Visual Display
    • Horopters and Their Expression
    • Experiment
  • Summary
• Mobile Telexistence System
  • System Configuration
  • Experiments
  • Summary
• Design and Quantitative Evaluation of Telexistence Manipulation System
  • Telexistence Manipulation System
  • Manipulation Experiments
  • Summary
• Construction of Virtual Haptic Space
  • Construction Method for Encounter-Type Virtual Haptic Space
    • Active Environment Display
    • Shape Approximation Device
  • Test Hardware
  • Summary
• Electrocutaneous Communication
  • Perceived Magnitude Sensation
  • Channel Capacity
  • Phantom Sensation

The enhancement of our ability to perceive the world around us has long been a dream of mankind, and it is finally being attained through augmented reality (AR). This multi-disciplinary field endeavors to seamlessly integrate digital information into real environments. The author and his team proposed and developed retroreflective projection technology (RPT), which is an elegant and cost-effective approach to turning any real object into a strikingly lifelike visual display. Retroreflective materials reflect light back in the direction of the source, which can be employed to produce new versatile optical systems supporting stereoscopic vision and accurate occlusion. Since the projection surface can be of any shape, one practical application referred to as “Optical Camouflage” realistically projects a background image onto an opaque object, such as a vehicle or an overcoat, in order to make it appear invisible; a concept previously confined to science fiction…

Telexistence technology provides a highly realistic sensation of presence in a remote place without requiring any actual travel. The concept was first proposed by the author in 1980, and its feasibility has been demonstrated through the construction of alter-ego robot systems such as Telesar (TELExistence Surrogate Anthropomorphic Robot), which was developed under the national large-scale project entitled “Robots in Hazardous Environments,” as well as the HRP supercockpit biped robot system developed under the “Humanoid Robotics Project.” Telesar II, a mutual telexistence system, was subsequently developed and can generate the effect of existing in a remote place in local space by the combined use of an alter-ego robot and retroreflective projection technology (RPT). Thus, the feasibility of mutual telexistence has been demonstrated. In this chapter, the concept of mutual telexistence using RPT is described, the design and the construction of the Telesar II system are explained, and the feasibility and the efficacy of the mutual telexistence system are experimentally demonstrated using Telesar II.

TWISTER (Telexistence Wide-angle Immersive STEReoscope) is an immersive omnidirectional full-color autostereoscopic 3D booth, designed for a concept of face-to-face telecommunication referred to as “mutual telexistence,” where people at distant locations can communicate as if they were present in the same 3D space. Each user is situated within a cylindrical booth, which displays full-color 360° panoramic and autostereoscopic images in real time to the user without the need for any eyewear. At the same time, the booth captures images of the user from every angle. By using multiple booths, a number of people at different remote locations can interact with each other as if they were interacting face to face…

Haptic means “of or relating to the sense of active touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using both cutaneous sensation and proprioception.” Although ideal virtual reality (VR) and telexistence should provide haptic sensations, conventional VR and telexistence systems provide mostly visual and auditory sensations with, at most, only incomplete haptic sensations. Some systems have proprioception, such as kinesthetic sensation, but do not have cutaneous sensation that is as natural as direct touch. For this reason, many researchers are now studying haptic sensation worldwide. For the same reason, this chapter is entitled “Haptic VR and Haptic Telexistence,” to stress the importance of haptic sensation in VR and telexistence.

The following sections are included:

• Out-of-the-Body Experience
• Impact of Telexistence on Daily Life
• Open Problems of Telexistence
• Telexistence in the Future
• Telexistence and Society

The following sections are included:

• Appendix A: Figures in Color
• Bibliography
• Index