Mixed reality collaboration through sharing a live panorama

Abstract

One of the popular features on modern social networking platforms is sharing live 360 panorama video. This research investigates on how to further improve shared live panorama based collaborative experiences by applying Mixed Reality (MR) technology. Shared-Sphere is a wearable MR remote collaboration system. In addition to sharing a live captured immersive panorama, SharedSphere enriches the collaboration through overlaying MR visualisation of non-verbal communication cues (e.g., view awareness and gestures cues). User feedback collected through a preliminary user study indicated that sharing of live 360 panorama video was beneficial by providing a more immersive experience and supporting view independence. Users also felt that the view awareness cues were helpful for understanding the remote collaborator's focus.