Opening Address (SUNTEC, Room 303 &304)

Invited Talk (SUNTEC, Room 303 & 304)

From its birth in the 1960s, Virtual Reality has been closely dependent on the availability of certain specialized technologies: real-time image generation, real-time tracking, miniature displays. Lack of these technologies made the initial attempts, beginning in the late 1960s, so difficult that only a few experimental systems were built until the late 1980s, when a combination of pocket TVs (which could be used for head-mounted displays) and real-time graphics workstations enabled an actual field called "virtual reality" to emerge. In the 1990s, the widespread availability of graphics-enhanced PCs and miniature displays fueled the VR boom of that decade. Affordable video projectors in the late 1990s enabled room-sized immersive environments. In the past few years smart phones with cameras, accelerometers and other sensors have spawned a boom in augmented reality applications on such devices. The latest promising device, the Microsoft Kinect depth camera, introduced in November 2010, may fuel the next expansion in VR systems and applications. Its real-time depth and color imagery, combined with affordability and easy interfacing, has inspired a following of experimentalists within days of its availability. It enables interaction with a local user's body without the user needing to wear (or hold) any encumbrances, and its real-time depth and color imagery enables 3D scene capture for augmented reality and telepresence applications. With this recent history of new technologies reinvigorating the field, VR is in a transition, from only a few systems being built, with enormous resources and heroic effort, toward a situation in which the necessary resources are so inexpensive that even individuals can personally fund and develop experimental VR systems -- from a situation in which most can only admire systems from afar, to one in which anyone can readily replicate another's work and build new ideas on top of it. It is this explosion in the size and vigor of the community that promises to transform VR from a minor media curiosity to a field with major creative, technical, economic, and societal impact.

CAVE, a walk-in virtual reality environment typically consisting of 4-6 3m-by-3m sides of a room made of rear-projected screens, was first conceived and built twenty years ago, in 1991. In the nearly two decades since its conception, the supporting technology has improved so that current CAVEs are much brighter, at much higher resolution, and have dramatically improved graphics performance. However, rear-projection-based CAVEs typically must be housed in a 10m-by-10m-by-10m room (allowing space behind the screen walls for the projectors), which limits their deployment to large spaces. The CAVE of the future will be made of tessellated panel displays, eliminating the projection distance, but the implementation of such displays is challenging. Early multi-tile, panel-based, virtual-reality displays have been designed, prototyped, and built for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. New means of image generation and control are considered key contributions to the future viability of the CAVE as a virtual-reality device. (From DeFanti, et. al., “The Future of the CAVE,” CEJE(1).)

Session 1 Foundation of Technology Supporting the Creation of Digital Media Contents (SUNTEC Room 303)

Our aim is development of the biological CG technology by natural modeling beauty, and the expression technology of a high resolution image (Ultra High Definition) and the mechanical modeling technology which reacts overly like a living thing. These technology and traditional performing arts of Japan are interlocked organically, and development of the creation technology of the space for tip-izing as "new traditional performing arts" is performed for "advanced translation into art of scientific beauty" which does not have a similar case in the world, either.

Recently people have become able to play on-line games at various places outside one’s home, thanks to the development of network infrastructures and mobile devices. However, it would be dangerous if most of information is still provided through visual displays, to mobile users in public spaces. We have examined several ways of providing information through non-visual sensory channels, including tactile sensation and olfactory sensation, and developed prototype systems to provide stimuli only to the target user. We have also made a challenge to develop input interfaces, including a first-person pose estimation system for intuitive interaction and an integrated input device that enables seamless switching between pointing and key-input operations.

Human interfaces are important factors in designing user experiences in virtual environments such as on-line game worlds. In this project, we propose a fundamental concept: Kawaii User Interface (KUI) with consideration of design aspects on “kawaii” (cuteness). KUI concept contributes to make attractive user interfaces in the field of Human Computer Interaction. In this talk, we introduce "Stickable Bear" as an example of KUIs. In addition, we explain the theory of a projection based measurement device which supports development of applications with KUIs.

We have so far been investigating a method for designing sound and healthy online games that allow players not to get too immersed to the game world by connecting them to the real world. In the talk, we will present a localization system as one of the core technologies for that purpose. First, we will describe an innovative distance measurement technique using ultrasonic signals. The proposed technique showed its remarkable performance (0.032 mm standard deviation in 3 meter measurements) through experiments, which, to the best of our knowledge, indicates the best performance using narrow band ultrasonic transducers. We also talk about a 3D localization system which is compact and easy to deploy. A gesture recognition system or motion capture system using the proposed technique is also discussed.

Interactive applications such as Video Games require reactive virtual creatures (characters), which generate motions corresponding to user’s interaction. We propose to generate reactive motion of virtual creature by simulating articulated rigid body model as their body and selective attention model as their mind.

Session 2 Creation of Human-Harmonized Information Technology for Convivial Society (SUNTEC, Room 303)

This project aims to construct an intelligent information environment that is both visible and tangible, where real-space communication, human-machine interface and media processing are integrated. The goal is to create a human-harmonized "tangible information environment" that allows human beings to obtain and understand haptic information in the real space, to transmit thus obtained haptic space, and to actively interact with other people using the transmitted haptic space. The tangible environment enables telecommunication, tele-experience, and pseudo-experience with the sensation of working as though in a natural environment. It also enables humans to engage in creative activities such as design and creation as though they were in the real environment.

We attempt construction of a new information space allowing humans to recognize phenomena exceeding the limitations of the human senses. Crucial to this effort are: (1) perfect detection of underlying dynamics and (2) a new model of sensory-motor integration drawn from work with kHz-rate sensor and display technologies. Within the information space the sampling rate is matched with the dynamics of the physical world; so humans are able to deterministically predict attributes of the surrounding, rapidly-evolving environment. This leads to a new type of interaction, where the learning rate and capacity of our recognition system are augmented.

Tele-existence is trying to replicate physically plausible information by providing with a real sensation of presence. In this project, we aim to elucidate the mechanisms of the perceptual illusion for visco-elastic function in the brain. Perceptual illusion would realize new human interface without elaborate system.

The purpose of this study is to build an information communication environment that supports the exchange of music, a universal language, with high fidelity. We develop a sound field sharing system that will help music professionals such as musicians, acoustic engineers, music educators, and music critics to enhance their skills and further explore their creativity by providing them with the means to experience 3D sound in a telecommunication environment. This innovative form of music production using communication technology also provides the general public a platform for a new experience of entertainment.

Eye gaze tracking (EGT) is a key technology for developing an interactive information environment of next generation. However, previous systems require users to attach special hardware such as eye cameras and to perform calibration before using systems. Due to these requirements, EGT has been used mostly for research purposes held in laboratories. My research aims to develop a new eye gaze estimation system to solve these issues and to introduce EGT in everyday environments. Our key technique is the use of eye-surface reflection which comes from environmental light-map. Here, we developed a new LED array projector that illumines an environment with a time-coded pattern and eye cameras capture the reflected images on eye surfaces. Our EGT can be achieved by matching the codes of environment illuminations and eye surface reflections.