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Telepresence: Virtual Reality in the Real World

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Telepresence: Virtual Reality in the Real World special REPORTS John Edwards [ ] Telepresence: Virtual Reality in the Real World magine a teleconferencing system inconvenient travel itiner- being adopted by enterprises that’s so realistic, so natural, that aries—the ability to reach in sectors ranging from gov- you feel you could reach out and out to anyone, anywhere as ernment to retail to manu- shake a participant’s hand, even if really there. “Our mind facturing to finance to though the individual may be sitting often has sparks, and those utilities. Currently available, Iin a room hundreds or even thousands ideas need to be immedi- telepresence systems are of miles away. That’s the idea behind ately debated and further usually designed to join an telepresence, an emerging teleconfer- brainstormed with col- Henry Fuchs of the enterprise’s existing com- encing technology that’s designed to not leagues and friends; other- University of North munications portfolio— only connect people together but to wise, they will be just gone Carolina. including Web confer encing, make them feel like they’re all collabo- forever,” Zhang observes. Internet telephony, instant rating together inside the same room. messaging, and social media communica- Telepresence provides an immersive READY FOR THE REAL WORLD tion tools—to help employees boost meeting experience based on the highest Once the fodder of science fiction writers performance, increase sales, protect possible levels of audio and video clarity. and filmmakers, telepresence is already investments, and create rich collaborative Ideally, participants are life-sized. Ide - ally, every sound, gesture, and facial expression are replicated in high-defini- tion (HD) video and high-fidelity sur- round sound. The ultimate goal is to make telepresence and in-person meet- ings virtually indistinguishable from each other. “Telepresence has a great potential for getting people to work together collaboratively, efficiently, and naturally regardless of their physical loca- tion,” observes Zhengyou Zhang, a princi- pal researcher focusing on telepresence technologies at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington. With business becoming increas- ingly global, and travel getting ever more expensive and cumbersome, tele- presence’s popularity is soaring. According to a December 2010 study by Wintergreen Research of Lexington, Massachusetts, worldwide telepresence sales are projected to reach US$6.7 bil- lion by 2016. Yet the technology offers an important benefit that goes far beyond eliminating expensive and Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSP.2011.941853 Ryan Schubert and Peter Lincoln (right) are grad students working on the University of Date of publication: 1 November 2011 North Carolina mobile avatar project. 1053-5888/11/$26.00©2011IEEE IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE [9] NOVEMBER 2011 special REPORTS continued [ ] leagues, friends, and colleagues from a remote location while family members to pop also being able to hear and see them. an electronic representa- Trevor Blackwell, Anybot’s chief tion of themselves into executive officer, says that ongoing places as easily as dialing advancements in video, wireless broad- a phone. Researchers are band, and robotics technology are also working on trans- making it easier and more practical for porting realistic repre- people to project their presence to sentations of entire remote sites. “It’s now becoming meeting rooms and possible for computers to control robot offices to distant loca- bodies in much more interesting ways tions. Zhang says telep- than in the 1980s or 1990s,” he says. resence’s potential uses “So it was time to try to build a gen- are far-reaching and lim- eral-purpose robot that would be use- Nasser Peyghambarian, a professor of optical sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson is shown with the ited only people’s imagi- ful in the office.” hologram. nation. “App lications Blackwell states that Anybots can include effective team be used to support a variety of train- experiences with colleagues and custom- collaboration, immersive entertainment ing, sales and customer service activi- ers. Communications integration means experiences, and im proved customer ties. He believes that the technology is that participants can work face to face in satisfaction in mar keting,” he says. particularly well suited for technology a virtual meeting room while also invit- support services, such as helping an ing in colleagues who are limited to ANYONE FOR ANYBOTS? employee master a new software appli- phone- or Web-based conferencing While most telepresence technologies cation or fix a minor computer glitch. systems. are developed for incorporation into ded- “Most small offices these days need a Telepresence systems, including icated conference rooms, Mountain tech support person maybe one or two cameras, displays, speakers, and other View, California-based Anybots has creat- hours a week,” he explains. He notes hardware and software components, are ed a system that’s designed to bring tele- that small organizations often can’t currently available from several presence sessions directly to people at afford the expense of hiring a full-time vendors, including Cisco Systems, their desks or in virtually any other support professional. Meanwhile, a part- Tandberg, and Polycom. Prices can run indoor location. The company’s mobile time hire may not be available on site anywhere from several thousand dollars Anybots robot is designed to function as when needed. Blackwell says that using to upwards of a quarter of a million dol- a seeing and hearing personal avatar that a telepresence robot allows a business to lars. Basic components in a high-end can freely roll around an office, produc- combine the cost and availability bene- system typically include at least three tion site, sales floor, convention center, fits of phone support with the interac- HD 65-in or larger displays, several HD or lobby. The system is operated via a tivity attributes of a personal visit. cameras, multiple microphones and Web browser using a wireless fidelity, “Being able to support people through a speakers, special lighting arrays, two or third generation, or fourth generation robot means that instead of being on more 1-Gb Ethernet ports in the room, wireless connection. A video camera and the phone with someone, you can send and approximately 2–3 Mb/s of band- speaker mounted inside the robot’s head your robot to stand behind the person, width per active screen. allows operators to converse with remote look at what they’re doing on their While telepresence is already computer, talk to them about it, meeting the needs of a rapidly look at where the wires are growing number of organiza- going, and do whatever else is tions, researchers worldwide are necessary to troubleshoot the developing new technologies with problem,” he says. the aim of making electronic The technology can also be meetings even more like “being put to use as an office greeter, there.” Among the innovations allowing a human receptionist being investigated are robot ava- to remotely welcome guests tars that will allow people to cre- without leaving the front desk ate a virtual physical presence vacant. “Around our office, our almost anywhere. Another impor- robot greets visitors at the door tant research area is three- and shows them where the diet dimensional (3-D) technology, An Anybot telepresence robot lets users project their Cokes are and leads them to a which promises to allow col- presence to a work site. seat in the conference room,” IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE [10] NOVEMBER 2011 Blackwell says. “And then it goes and being developed by the gets me.” BeingThere Centre, a joint Blackwell notes that besides project of the University of enabling efficient video and audio North Carolina (UNC) in streaming, signal processing played an Chapel Hill, North Carolina, important role in developing the Nanyang Technological robot’s physical attributes. “Our focus University (NTU) in on signal processing has been mainly Singapore, and the Swiss in the mobility and movement of the Federal Institute of robot,” he says. “The new technology Technology (ETH) in is all about controlling the way the Zurich. The project unites robot moves, making sure it doesn’t 32 leading telepresence crash into things, making it move research leaders working smoothly and as quietly as possible, across three continents and making it seem very responsive to A concept developed by the remote driver even though there is Gregory Welch, a UNC some small delay over the network as research professor, is to they’re driving it.” create a technology that Such attention is vital since physical gives people the option of movements that are trivial for most sending a mobile manne- people can be major challenges for a quin to represent them- robot. “There are all kinds of things that selves at a conference table. can happen as you’re rolling around an Such a unit would act as an office—like one wheel hits a bump and avatar that could freely nav- then all of a sudden it’s off the ground,” igate to a distant environ- Blackwell says. “Then, if you try to con- ment and take on the An Anybot telepresence robot allows remote workers trol the robot by spinning that wheel, appearance and gestures of to collaborate with on-site personnel directly and it’s going to do the wrong thing.” Signal its far-away human host. informally. processing algorithms help the robot The project’s ultimate goal know what to do in specific situations. is creating an autonomous virtual create the illusion that the rooms are Blackwell says that he and his team human with memory and awareness adjacent to each other and separated gain inspiration by observing the real capabilities that can take the place of its only by glass walls, even though they world. “We spend a lot of time looking at host whenever he or she is absent. may be located in different countries.
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