Mixing telerobotics and virtual reality for improving immersion in artwork perception

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting a framework to achieve a higher degree of telepresence in environments rich of artistic content using mobile robots. We develop a platform which allows a more immersive and natural interaction between an operator and a remote environment; we make use of a multi-robot system as the mean to physically explore such environment and we adopt virtual reality as an interface to abstract it. The visitor is thus able to exploit the virtual environment both for keeping the sense of direction and for accessing a high-resolution content, while the immersion is achieved through the robot sensors. This study represents a starting point for overcoming the limits of the current use of virtual technology associated with artistic content. Long-term results of such study can be applied to tele-didactics, remote tele-visits for impaired users and active man-machine cooperation for efficient tele-surveillance. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.