Telexistence

Telexistence is a fundamental concept which refers to the general technology that enables a human being to have the real-time sensation of being at a place other than where he or she actually exists, while being able to interact with the remote environment, which may be real, virtual, or a combination of both. It also refers to an advanced type of teleoperation system that enables an operator at the control to perform remote tasks dexterously with the feeling of existing in a surrogate robot working in a remote environment. Telexistence in the real remote environment through a virtual environment is also possible.This book is the second edition of the original Telexistence; new contents cover recent advancements of the technology in areas such as human augmentation, autostereoscopy, tangible visuo-haptic 3D display, face-to-face communication, and haptic sensations and technologies. Case studies of the mobile mutual telexistence system TELESAR IV and haptic telexistence avatar system TELESAR V are also included. Written by the inventor of the concept of this emerging technology, it introduces the concept of telexistence, explains how this concept can be realized, illustrates precisely real examples of the realization of the concept, and determines its future advancement. Readers will be inspired by the concept, and acquire appropriate knowledge on this emerging technology and the fundamental skills to contribute in further development of telexistence.

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.

Virtual reality (VR) is a multidisciplinary area of research aimed at interactive human–computer-mediated simulations of artificial environments. An important aspect of VR-based systems is the stimulation of the human senses – usually sight, sound, and touch – in such a way that a user feels a sense of presence in the virtual environment. Sometimes it is important to combine real and virtual objects in the same real or virtual environment. This approach is often referred to as augmented reality (AR), when virtual objects are integrated into a real environment. Typical VR applications include simulation, training, scientific visualization, and entertainment, whereas typical AR applications include computer-aided manufacturing or maintenance and computer-aided surgery or medicine. This book comprises a collection of research and position papers presented at Dagstuhl Seminar 13241 on Virtual Realities, held at Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany, in June 2013. The 13 papers in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 18 submissions. They are organized in topical sections on: VR environments; interactions and user experience; virtual humans; and tele-existence.

With research continuing to expand and develop, the marketplace for sensors and instrumentation remains one of the most significant for the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the economies of major developed nations. Sensors and Their Applications XI discusses novel research in the field of sensors and transducers, and provides valuable insight into new and topical applications of the technology. The book records the breadth and quality of the field and acts as a topical record of work in sensors and their applications. It will serve as an invaluable reference for physicists, engineers, and chemists working in this area of technology for many years to come.

Going from the philosophy and concepts to the implementation and user study, this book presents an excellent overview of Japan's contemporary technical challenges in the field of human–computer interaction. The next information era will be one in which information is used to cultivate human and social potential. Driven by this vision, the outcomes provided in this work were accomplished as challenges to establish basic technologies for achieving harmony between human beings and the information environment by integrating element technologies including real-space communication, human interfaces, and media processing. Ranging from the neuro-cognitive level to the field trial, the research activities integrated novel perceptual technologies that even exceed human ability to sense, capture, and affect the real world. This book grew out of one of the CREST research areas funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The theme of the project is “the creation of human-harmonized information technology for convivial society”, where 17 research teams aimed at a common goal. The project promotes a trans-disciplinary approach featuring (1) recognition and comprehension of human behaviors and real-space contexts by utilizing sensor networks and ubiquitous computing, (2) technologies for facilitating man–machine communication by utilizing robots and ubiquitous networks, and (3) content technologies for analyzing, mining, integrating, and structuring multimedia data including those in text, voice, music, and images. This is the first of two volumes, which is contributed by nine team leaders. Besides describing the technical challenges, each contribution lays much weight on discussing the philosophy, concepts, and the implications underlying the project. This work will provide researchers and practitioners in the related areas with an excellent opportunity to find interesting new developments and to think about the relationship between human and information technology.

The book presents a remarkable collection of chapters covering a wide range of topics in the areas of intelligent systems and artificial intelligence, and their real-world applications. It gathers the proceedings of the Intelligent Systems Conference 2019, which attracted a total of 546 submissions from pioneering researchers, scientists, industrial engineers, and students from all around the world. These submissions underwent a double-blind peer-review process, after which 190 were selected for inclusion in these proceedings. As intelligent systems continue to replace and sometimes outperform human intelligence in decision-making processes, they have made it possible to tackle a host of problems more effectively. This branching out of computational intelligence in several directions and use of intelligent systems in everyday applications have created the need for an international conference as a venue for reporting on the latest innovations and trends. This book collects both theory and application based chapters on virtually all aspects of artificial intelligence; presenting state-of-the-art intelligent methods and techniques for solving real-world problems, along with a vision for future research, it represents a unique and valuable asset.