Overview

The HOG table

People indoors use a special tabletop display capable of capturing gestures and props from the table surface. Indoor users provide navigational instructions by simply pointing to an area on the table surface and adding extra verbal commands.

Tinmith

People outdoors use the Tinmith outdoor augmented reality system to see the 3D interactions overlaid on the real world. This wearable system tracks the user's position and head orientation, making it possible to render geolocated objects over the user's view of the real world.

The Hand of God

The outdoor user sees the hand gestures in real-time as a 3D video and experience these interactions as though they are appearing from the sky above. This is like some kind of devine intervention from above as portrayed in popular culture, hence the term "Hand of God".

Props

Everday objects can be used as virtual rally points, waypoint markers or to highlight significant landmarks. With recognizable objects, giving outdoor users direction is simplified with instructions such as "Go to the jar of Vegemite". The ability to use arbitrary props means that users don't need to rely solely on specially prefabricated props.

Prefabricated Props

Rather than just using arbitrary objects as props, specific props can be used in some tasks to convey more information. For example, a minitature wooden street sign is used to warn the outdoor user about the presence of wombats in the immediate area.

Augmented Post-it Notes

During typical use, there will be situation where it is handy to have persistent information accompanying a prop. Indoor users can write information on Post-it notes, sticking them to the surface of the props wherever it is convenient.

Construction materials

Construction materials such as Play-Doh and LEGO bricks can be used to construct arbitrary props on-the-fly. Construction materials can also be used by HOG users to interactively obtain information about the size and shape of objects in the immersed user's world.

Snapshot

The working volume for the 3D capture on the table is small. Placing more than one object on the table at once is not practical. A snapshot feature enables us to populate a large area with many props even though we can only use one prop at a time.

Object Manipulation

Using Tinmith, the outdoor user has the ability to interact with the reconstructed objects. For example, the outdoor user can move, scale, rotate and copy the 3D reconstructions. These changes are reflected in real-time back to the indoor user.

HOG on a WIM

HOG on a WIM enables HOG users to use their hands and props to assist immersed users with navigation and manipulation tasks on their Worlds In Miniature (WIM). As the HOG table captures a complete 3D reconstruction, HOG on a WIM users can orientate their WIM to view the interaction from different viewpoints.