Transcendent telepresence: Tele-communication better than face to face interaction

Abstract

Previous studies on telepresence concentrated on conveying rich nonverbal information as face-to-face (F2F) interactions. In this paper, we propose “transcendent telepresence” that aims to achieve better communication via telepresence that is impossible to achieve using F2F interactions. Transcendent telepresence enhances nonverbal information in telecommunication to enhance positive psychological effects and suppress negative effects by modifying the transmitted information. It complements the individual differences by adding functions that humans do not possess. Here, the concept of transcendent telepresence, examples, and researches of our group have been introduced. The overview of the research on “eye avatar” that can control the range of the gaze cone by switching convex eye and hollow eye has been specifically introduced. Our evaluation experiment on the eye avatar showed that the convex eye can send the correct gaze direction to audience and the hollow eye can send longer direct gaze to audience more widely.