”R-Metaverse” - Augmented Reality Content Using Teleoperated Robots - Report 2
Yuhi NISHIKORI, Yasuyuki Fujii, Dinh Tuan Tran, Joo‐Ho Lee · The Proceedings of JSME annual Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (Robomec) · 2024
In this laboratory, research has been conducted on the Real-Metaverse (R-Metaverse), a new metaverse space using telepresence robots that move in real space as avatars of users. In this paper, we develop a system in which a user participates in the R-Metaverse using a smartphone in addition to a user participating with a telepresence robot. In this system, we proposed a method to improve the social presence of a robot user who participates with a telepresence robot and a mobile user who participates with a smartphone, and conducted experiments to verify the method. We proposed a system that enables the robot user to confirm the mobile user’s facial expression and a system that enables the mobile user to confirm the robot user’s 3DCG avatar with synchronized movements of the robot user’s head and hands, and investigated whether these methods are appropriate. Experimental results showed that the system that allows the mobile user to confirm the facial expressions of the robot user is effective in enhancing the social presence of the user. On the other hand, the system that allows the user to see the robot user’s 3DCG avatar did not show any significant difference.