Project Number
- 73
Title
- The Edge Observatory: An Airborne Telepresence System
Description
- Radio-controlled telepresence platform with a helium blimp.
Contact
- Andrew J. Tschesnok
Affiliation
- Tschesnok
Address
- 47 Hillcrest Park Road
- Old Greenwich, Connecticut 06870
- +1.203.637.0812
- +1.203.698.2945 fax
- Old Greenwich, Connecticut 06870
- andrewt@cs.tufts.edu
WWW
Year
- 1994
Reference
- SIGGRAPH 94 Visual Proceedings
Project Details
- "The Edge Observatory Telepresence System offers its operators the unique ability to visually 'teleport' themselves to a remote location in the airspace above The Edge [at SIGGRAPH 94]. Suspended by a helium balloon, a small motion-controlled video camera acts as the eye of the operator below, matching angular orientation with the user's position and feeding the video signal from above back to the operator's head-mounted display."
- "The probe's unique size and weight render it useful for indoor use as well, making it an option for applications ranging from trade show advertising to unmanned television blimps. The overall goal is to raise public awareness of the many possibilities of telepresence."
- The camera platform uses a small, lipstick-sized CCD video camera - total size fits in the palm of your hand and weights about nine ounces. A VictorMaxx head-mounted display is used along with a DigiSonic ultrasonic head tracker. Finally, a low cost 386 PC is used to buffer head-tracking commands and the motion-control system.
Sight
- telepresence helium balloon, VictorMaxx head-mounted display, Intel 386 computer
Sound
Touch
- VictorMaxx head-mounted display
Smell
Taste
Other
Emergence
- 1 - Innovation, Custom, Research
Intent
- 2 - Technique (paradigm, human)
Primary
- 204 - telepresence
Secondary
- 311 - communication
Remarks
Last updated: 5 Jul 2002
Sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH, Copyright © 2002 Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (ACM)
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