ImmerseBoard: Immersive Telepresence Experience using a Digital Whiteboard

  • Keita Higuchi ,
  • Yinpeng Chen ,
  • Philip A. Chou ,
  • Zhengyou Zhang ,
  • Zicheng Liu

Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) |

Published by ACM - Association for Computing Machinery

Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCU1Ifr5VUc&list=PLOynw4iQRT4S1DYov_-zdM6QAXlFSWl46

ImmerseBoard is a system for remote collaboration through a digital whiteboard that gives participants a 3D immersive experience, enabled only by an RGBD camera (Microsoft Kinect) mounted on the side of a large touch display. Using 3D processing of the depth images, life-sized rendering, and novel visualizations, ImmerseBoard emulates writing side-by-side on a physical whiteboard, or alternatively on a mirror. User studies involving three tasks show that compared to standard video conferencing with a digital whiteboard, ImmerseBoard provides participants with a quantitatively better ability to estimate their remote partners’ eye gaze direction, gesture direction, intention, and level of agreement. Moreover, these quantitative capabilities translate qualitatively into a heightened sense of being together and a more enjoyable experience. ImmerseBoard’s form factor is suitable for practical and easy installation in homes and offices.