Now You See It, Now You Don't

The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has created an experimental system that lets people in multiple locations examine and interact with virtual objects that exist ... well, that don't exist at all. Visualize, if you will, two or three people in different locations, all wearing special video eye-glasses that let them see and actually manipulate the same virtual 3D objects that appear to be sitting on the empty table in front of them.

The Augmented Collaboration in Mixed Environments, or "ACME," was built using an open-source viewer from Linden Lab's Second Life virtual world, as well as from open-source ARToolkit and OpenCV libraries.

Sensors, cameras, and microphones located on both ends of the conversation allow voices, head and hand gestures, and movements to change in concert with the behavior of participants, enabling participants to sense the vital visual cues of body language. In this proof-of-concept, participants in physical rooms wear see-through video glasses that depict three-dimensional images of their online counterparts as they stand, walk, talk, or demonstrate and manipulate virtual objects shared between the spaces.

The research necessary for building ACME was supported in part by IBM Research and Nokia Research Center. Prototypes of ACME will be installed at IBM Research Austin and Nokia Research Center Tampere/Finland for internal use and further testing and development. To view a clip pf ACME in action, go to this YouTube video.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 10:50 AM  Permalink