You as a Puppet: Evaluation of Telepresence User Interface for Puppetry

UIST 2017 Papers 2017

We propose an immersive telepresence system for puppetry that transmits a human performer's body and facial movements into a puppet with audiovisual feedback to the performer. The cameras carried in place of puppet's eyes stream live video to the HMD worn by the performer, so that performers can see the images from the puppet's eyes with their own eyes and have a visual understanding of the puppet's ambience. In conventional methods to manipulate a puppet (a hand-puppet, a string-puppet, and a rod-puppet), there is a need to practice manipulating puppets, and there is difficulty carrying out interactions with the audience. Moreover, puppeteers must be positioned exactly where the puppet is. The proposed system addresses these issues by enabling a human performer to manipulate the puppet remotely using his or her body and facial movements. We conducted several user studies with both beginners and professional puppeteers. The results show that, unlike the conventional method, the proposed system facilitates the manipulation of puppets especially for beginners. Moreover, this system allows performers to enjoy puppetry and fascinate audiences.

Credits

Author
Mose Sakashita
University of Tsukuba
Tatsuya Minagawa
University of Tsukuba
Amy Koike
University of Tsukuba
Ippei Suzuki
University of Tsukuba
Keisuke Kawahara
University of Tsukuba
Yoichi Ochiai
University of Tsukuba
Cast
Mose Sakashita
University of Tsukuba
Keisuke Kawahara
University of Tsukuba
Amy Koike
University of Tsukuba
Director
Cinematographer
Editor
Ippei Suzuki
University of Tsukuba

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