We have been developing a wearable interface system, "BOWL ProCam (BOdy-Worn Laser Projector Camera)", for providing the user with a mixed-reality interface by not using any head-mounted devices. The BOWL ProCam is equipped with a laser projector that has the long focal depth, a high-definition fish-eye camera for enabling wide-range situation understanding, and attitude sensors for projection stabilization. In this paper, we first show an evaluation by simulation on the proper position for wearing a projector-camera system in the context of real-world task support. According to the result, the upper chest area was selected as the wearing position. Next, we briefly describe interaction techniques effectively employing both nearby projection surfaces such as the user's hands and far projection surfaces such as a tabletop and wall. This paper then presents preliminary experiments on active-stereo and hand-posture-classification techniques to realize such interaction with a proof-of-concept system that uses a conventional light-bulb projector.

Date Published: 8 February 2008
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 6804, The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2008, 68040D (8 February 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.759311

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6804:
The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2008
Ian E. McDowall; Margaret Dolinsky, Editor(s)