Telecommunication, Teleimmersion, and Telexistence II

Book excerpt: Summary: Telexistence is the concept of overcoming limitations of time and space by presenting a sensation of existence in a virtual sense. Teleimmersion and telexistence connect the space that we live in or that we exist in. Technology based on this concept enables users to meet and talk to one another as if they share the same space and time, even if they are far apart from each other. This is the goal of the development of mutual telexistence communication systems, as a natural progression from the telephone to the telexistence-videophone. One of the highlights of this publication is the section on TELESAR (TELExistence Surrogate Anthropomorphic Robot), which is an anthropomorphic robot controlled by a human operator at a remote site with a sensation of presence. The robot is coated with retro-reflective material, so that a person wearing an HMP (Head Mounted Projector) sees the telexisting operator instead of the robot. This book focuses on the present status and future prospects of this emerging technology of teleimmersion and telexistence and reports on recent results.