Telepresence

This Human Productivity Lab article compares the commercially available telepresence systems. From the article: "U.S. News and World Report has published a superb article on telepresence by Liz Wolgemuth entitled: "Telepresence" Enhances Video Conferencing. In that article, Wolgemuth quotes me on a variety of telepresence topics. There was one quote which I felt needed to be expanded upon:

"Cisco competes with HP, Polycom, Teliris, and other entries in the telepresence market. The larger companies all make similar systems at slightly varying prices," says Howard Lichtman, who runs both a research consultancy, the Human Productivity Lab, and a publishing arm called Telepresence Options in Ashburn, Va.

This press release reports the University of Ottawa and IBM are engaging in a partnership to further pursue research in collaborative tele-presence at the DISCOVER Lab. From the press release: "This initiative is being supported by an IBM Shared University Research (SUR) grant.

The main objective of collaborative tele-presence is to give the impression to its users that they “exist” in the same virtual or real location, when in reality they are not, to the extent that they can interact with each other and with shared objects as in the real world.

This NewScientist Blog post takes a look at the consumer robot solutions for telepresence. From the article: "A few interesting consumer robots were launched at the end of last week. The pick of the bunch is called ConnectR - and is designed to let you interact with distant friends and family.

To 'visit' the owner, you connect to the robot over the web, driving it around, and experiencing what its video camera and microphone pick up. It will be sold for under £250 (US$500).

This PCWorld article reports the production on the upcoming animated film 'Bee Movie' depended heavily on HP's Halo high-end video system since DreamWorks Animation used their high-end video system to produce the movie on two coasts simultaneously without anyone ever having to get on a plane. From the article: "When the animated film "Bee Movie" opens Nov. 2, those who stick around for the credits will see HP's name scroll past following star Jerry Seinfeld's.

DreamWorks Animation used an HP Halo high-end video system to produce the movie on two coasts simultaneously without anyone ever having to get on a plane.

This Human Productivity Lab article reports Imago and Teleportel have announced the launch of their 3D Telepresence solution for the UK market with a price around 30,000 (UK) for a one-HD- screen system and with Sony guaranteed quality as well. From the article: "Sony is the first vendor to offer a 3D (three-dimensional) solution but the technology behind this is not explained.

This University of Salford article takes a look at the Eye Catcher project, led by Professor Dave Roberts, that could enable industry professionals to follow and look into each other's eyes as they communicate and move around in a shared virtual space. From the article: "University researchers have developed the word's first virtual reality system enabling industry professionals to follow and look into each other's eyes as they communicate and move around in a shared virtual space - even on other sides of the world.

Led by Salford University, the project will, for the first time, allow people in cyberspace to see what other avatars, or virtual reality representations of themselves, are looking at - and even catch their eye.

This Human Productivity Lab article reports HP Halo Collaboration Systems announced the release of the HP Halo Meeting Room on Tuesday which provides a modular design and a $249,000 price point that is competitive with other modular telepresence group systems from Cisco, Telanetix, Teliris, and their partner Tandberg.

Here's another article, this time from the The Gateway newspapers, that describes in a general way the iTRAnCE (Immersive Telepresence Room ANd Collaborative Environment) project I'm working on. From the article: "Teleconferencing with holograms using the living-room TV may soon be as routine as using the phone, according to a local product developer working with the University of Alberta.

Research consortium TR Labs is working with the U of A computer science department to bring a different type of videoconferencing—tele-immersion, where people meet in a virtual space—to life.

David Antoniuk, the business development director of TR Labs, said it will give people a richer experience while getting in touch with others.

This Clickable Culture post takes a look at the Unype application that welds multi-user capability onto Google Earth, including 3D avatars and a Skype-powered contacts-list. From the article: "Developed by Holoscape, the Unype client software (currently in beta) connects Google Earth, Skype, and an Unype Server, where other Unype users are logged. Users select their own COLLADA-format avatar models to use in the system, as well as public profile information such as a URL and photo.

This ZDNet's Emerging Technology Trends Blog article reports French researchers have developed a new system to enable users to insert virtual copies of themselves into video games or on the Web. From the article: "This system combines high performance video acquisition, computation and graphics rendering. It was introduced last week at SIGGRAPH 2007. This system is called GrImage (for ‘grid’ and ‘image’) — a French word which also means ‘make-up’ for actors — a pretty bad choice in my opinion. Anyway, it could be used to control your realistic avatars not only in games, but also in video conferences. But read more…