The desire to stay connected to one another over large distances has guided decades of telepresence research. Most focuses on stationary solutions that can deliver high-fidelity telepresence experiences, but these are usually impractical for the wider population who cannot afford the necessary proprietary equipment or are unwilling to regress to non-mobile communication. In this paper we present Mobileportation, a nomadic telepresence prototype that takes advantage of recent developments in mobile technology to provide immersive experiences wherever the user desires by allowing for seamless transitions between ego- and exocentric views within a mutually shared three-dimensional environment. The results of a user study are also discussed that show Mobileportation's ability to induce a sense of presence within this environment and with the remote communication partner, as well as the potential of this platform for future telepresence research.
Figure 1: TeleFest, our system for livestreaming events using tailored 360° content edited in real time by a producer. (Left): A real live performance streamed live to almost 2,000 people using TeleFest. Three 360° cameras were placed among the stage and crowd, and were livestreamed to YouTube with augmented 3D virtual content to enhance the remote viewing experience. (Right): The resulting livestream.
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