TwinCam Go: Proposal of Vehicle-Ride Sensation Sharing with Stereoscopic 3D Visual Perception and Vibro-Vestibular Feedback for Immersive Remote Collaboration

Personal vehicles such as the Segway have been actively used for security patrols or supervision of construction sites, because of their mobility capabilities. In the current study, we proposed a vehicle-ride sensation sharing system enabling a rider to remotely collaborate with a driver, and to receive both 3D visual perception and vibro-vestibular sensation. We developed a prototype personal vehicle system with two 360° cameras attached to the Segway with a stabilizer to capture stereoscopic 3D images and send them to each eye of a head-mounted display worn by a remotely collaborating rider. We also developed a prototype of vibro-vestibular display by modifying a conventional wheelchair with a simple lightweight mechanism for actuation and vibration by two DC motors. In our presentation algorithm, each wheel of the wheelchair is accelerated or decelerated proportionally to the acceleration of each wheel of the Segway. When the velocity of each wheel was almost constant and the acceleration was nearly zero, the wheelchair slowly moved to the initial position, with movement that the rider could not perceive, to keep the wheelchair accelerating or decelerating in a limited space.