3D-board: a whole-body remote collaborative whiteboard

Abstract

This paper presents 3D-Board, a digital whiteboard capable of capturing life-sized virtual embodiments of geographically distributed users. When using large-scale screens for remote collaboration, awareness for the distributed users' gestures and actions is of particular importance. Our work adds to the literature on remote collaborative workspaces, it facilitates intuitive remote collaboration on large scale interactive whiteboards by preserving awareness of the full-body pose and gestures of the remote collaborator. By blending the front-facing 3D embodiment of a remote collaborator with the shared workspace, an illusion is created as if the observer was looking through the transparent whiteboard into the remote user's room. The system was tested and verified in a usability assessment, showing that 3D-Board significantly improves the effectiveness of remote collaboration on a large interactive surface.