#telexistence

「遠距現身」一直是人類追求的理想之一，從電話到視訊，不同的實驗室也在嘗試新的取向。

Physical Telepresence (inFORM Shape Display) 2014

MIT Media Lab 創造一個會變形的桌子，由很多上下移動的柱子組成，就像是實體2.5D的像素。遠距的人可以現身在這些實體像素，甚至可以移動遠方的一顆球。

Haptoclone (Airborne Ultrasonic Haptic Hologram) 2015

然而2.5D的像素不能脫離桌面，日本東京大學的實驗室嘗試放棄物質本身，直接顯示出「觸覺」，對應到立體光場投影影像。利用超音波震動空氣，對焦在3D空間中的位置。

Telexistence — from 1980 to 2012

“When Susumu Tachi made his first prototype telexistence machine in 1981, he was amazed at what he saw. As he peered through the contraption, he glimpsed another version of himself from behind, looking through the very same prototype device. The effect induced a curious out-of-body sensation. Excited, he called his lab mates, who experienced similar feelings of self-displacement when trying the tech.

“It was different to looking at yourself in a mirror, or looking at your image in a video recording. I saw my image moving as I was moving myself. At that moment, I wondered where I was,” said the virtual reality and robotics professor at the University of Tokyo with a boyish grin. “I really felt that this was telexistence.”

For the uninitiated, “telexistence” is the real-time feeling of being in another location (real or virtual) that is different to one’s current location. Telexistence is different to “teleoperation,” which sees the operator electronically control another machine using a remote control. With the latter, there is no sense of being in the place.

Tachi said he came up with the concept of “telexistence” in 1980 and corroborated his discovery with a publication in Japanese in 1982, and then in English in 1984. Over in the US, “telepresence,” which is similar to “telexistence,” was coined by Marvin Minsky, a cognitive scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980. Tachi has written that while they are similar, telexistence has more focus on make a user feel like they actually inhabit the virtual space they're working in.”

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Telexistence: Future of Communication

We live in an era where the speed of technological advances has far exceed the rate of individual’s adaptation and learning abilities. To avoid a fatal outcome, researchers and developers of computer technology must cultivate a human-centered paradigm. It is essential to establish a technology where people can interact naturally with machines like robots and computers, as if they are interact…

We live in an era where the speed of technological advances has far exceed the rate of individual’s adaptation and learning abilities. To avoid a fatal outcome, researchers and developers of computer technology must cultivate a human-centered paradigm. It is essential to establish a technology where people can interact naturally with machines like robots and computers, as if they are interact naturally with other people or nature, in a cybernetic way that is truly human-oriented, thoroughly backed up by knowledge of physiology and cognitive behavioral psychology. We can permit various forms of interface, but the default interface has to be object-oriented, with a clear standard by which people can interact with machines as if they are handling natural objects.

Telexistence (tele-existence) runs concurrent with this human-centered notion. It is a fundamental concept which refers to the general technology that enables a human being to have a real-time sensation of being at a place other than where he or she actually exists, while being able to interact with the remote environment, which may be real, virtual, or a combination of both. It also refers to an advanced type of teleoperation system which enables an operator at the control to perform remote tasks dexterously with the feeling of existing in a surrogate robot working in a remote environment. A surrogate robot and a remote environment can be virtual. Real operation through virtual space is also possible, i.e. Augmented Telexistence.

Telexistence ultimately enables humans to be virtually ubiquitous, i.e., being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time.

Telexistence found in two form currently:

1. Telexistence- telexistence communication, mutual telexistence, and haptic telexistence using Telexistence Surrogate Anthropomorphic Robot (TELESAR), is fundamentally a concept named for the general technology that enables a human being to have a real-time sensation of being at a place other than where he or she actually exists, and being able to interact with the remote environment, which may be real, virtual, or a combination of both.

2. Telexistence wide-angle immersive stereoscope (TWISTER), which has full-color autostereoscopic display with 360-degree field of view,  A team of researchers led by Susumu Tachi ay the University of Tokyo has devised a rotary panoramic display that throws the viewers into a 3D video environment. The Telexistence Wide-angle Immersive STEReoscope (aka TWISTER) is claimed to be the world’s first full-color 360-degree 3D display, which viewers can experience without the need to wear any annoying 3D glasses.

TWISTER is the result of long 10 years of research and development of researchers. It contains the cylindrical display of about 4 ft tall and 6.5 ft wide, comprises 50,000 LEDs set in columns. It revolve around the observer’s head at speed of 1.6 revolutions per second, the specifically arranged LED columns creates a slightly different image to each of the observer’s eyes to create a 3D illusion. The 3D image of the observer is taken by the cameras fitted on the rotating panels.

TWISTER work on phenomenon called ‘binocular parallax,’ the principal behind the phenomenon is that both eyes i.e. (left eye and right eye) see same image with different position (depth)  which produce a illusion of third dimension on same image and produce the effect of 3D.

Currently to experience TWISTER, you have to stand inside of it, where several display screen displays rotate around you at 1.9 revolutions per second, showing a different display to each eye and creating the illusion of a 3D image.

Transhumanist future is near…

* hero image from http://www.wouldyoukindly.com/halo-ce-anniversary-has-enhanced-story-will-foreshadow-new-mysteries-about-halo-4/