Telepresence Avatar Motion Control via Spatial Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional telepresence systems using avatars fail to control motions adaptively in environments where users coexist, resulting in unnatural avatar poses and interactions.
Innovation Solution
A telepresence system that includes a corresponding location searching part and an avatar motion creating part, which determine and create adaptive motions for avatars based on information from both spaces and the locations, orientations, and gazes of users, ensuring natural communication and interaction by mapping human movements in one space to avatars in another space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional telepresence systems control avatar motions using basic position mapping, then the system complexity is low, but the avatar poses appear unnatural and fail to adapt to environmental characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-acquiring three-dimensional information about the environment (furniture positions, room layout) and pre-determining appropriate avatar positions and motions based on this environmental data before the user actually moves. This allows the avatar to adapt naturally to the environment without real-time complex calculations during interaction
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic motion control by continuously adjusting avatar positions and poses based on real-time detection of user movements, environmental characteristics, and spatial relationships. The avatar motion is not static but dynamically adapts to changing conditions in both the user's environment and the virtual space
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system maps human movements directly to avatars without considering environmental characteristics, then the ease of operation is high, but the avatar interactions appear unnatural and collisions may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that includes a correspondence determination unit and a motion generation unit. This intermediary layer translates simple user movements into context-aware avatar actions by considering environmental characteristics, furniture positions, and spatial relationships, thereby naturalizing the interaction without requiring complex user input
3Reliability
If the system determines avatar positions based only on user location without considering space information, then the device complexity is low, but the avatar may collide with objects and fail to take natural poses
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary acquisition of environmental three-dimensional information including furniture positions, room layout, and object locations before avatar interaction begins. This pre-acquired spatial data is stored and used to determine safe and natural avatar positions, preventing collisions before they occur
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the determined avatar position and pose are continuously adjusted based on environmental constraints. The correspondence determination unit uses feedback from environmental information to refine avatar placement, ensuring natural poses and collision-free interactions
Data Source
AI summary
A method for providing telepresence by employing avatars is provided. The method includes steps of: (a) a corresponding location searching part determining a location in a first space where an avatar Y′ corresponding to a human Y in a second space will be placed, if a change of a location of the human Y in the second space is detected from an initial state, by referring to (i) information on the first space and the second space and (ii) information on locations of the humans X and Y, and the avatar X′ in the first and the second spaces; and (b) an avatar motion creating part creating a motion of the avatar Y′ by referring to information on the determined location where the avatar Y′ will be placed.