We propose BirdViewAR, a surroundings-aware remote drone-operation system that provides significant spatial awareness to pilots through an augmented third-person view (TPV) from an autopiloted secondary follower drone. The follower drone responds to the main drone’s motions and directions using our optimization-based autopilot, allowing the pilots to clearly observe the main drone and its imminent destination without extra input. To improve their understanding of the spatial relationships between the main drone and its surroundings, the TPV is visually augmented with AR-overlay graphics.

我々は拡張三人称視点を用いてドローン操縦者の空間認識を向上させるシステム，BirdViewARを提案します．BirdViewARではパイロットが操縦する主ドローンの上空にもう1台副ドローンを飛行させ，パイロットに三人称視点を提示します．さらに，その三人称視点にARで空間情報を重畳することで，パイロットの空間理解を助けます．また，副ドローンを最適配置することで，余計な入力を行うことなく主ドローンの目的の情報を提示します．

Publication: 

Maakito Inoue, Kazuki Takashima, Kazuyuki Fujita and Yoshifumi Kitamura, “BirdViewAR: Surroundings-aware Remote Drone Piloting Using an Augmented Third-person Perspective”. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23) (in press)

We propose a new mobile head-mounted display, ModularHMD, that uses a modular mechanism with a manually reconfigurable structure to enable ad-hoc peripheral interaction with real-world objects and people while maintaining an immersive VR experience. We designed and built a proof-of-concept prototype of ModularHMD using a base commercial HMD and three removable display modules installed in the periphery of the HMD cowl. The user can rapidly switch between different HMD configurations according to their needs. The modules can be removed to ensure peripheral awareness of the real world, used as instant interaction devices (e.g, keyboards), and then returned to their original positions to terminate the peripheral interaction.

ModularHMDは，手動で再構成可能なモジュラー機構を用いた新たなモバイルヘッドマウントディスプレイ（HMD）です．この HMD では，市販の HMD のフェイスカバー部に 3 つの着脱可能なディスプレイモジュールを設置することで，没入感の高い VR 体験を可能にしつつも，必要に応じてモジュールの着脱により視界周辺部での実物体や近接者とのアドホックなインタラクションを可能にします．

Publication：

Isamu Endo, Kazuki Takashima, Maakito Inoue, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kiyoshi Kiyokawa, and Yoshifumi Kitamura, “ModularHMD: A Reconfigurable Mobile Head-Mounted Display Enabling Ad-hoc Peripheral Interactions with the Real World”. In The 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '21), pp. 100–117, Oct. 2021.  https://doi.org/10.1145/3472749.3474738

Isamu Endo, Kazuki Takashima, Maakito Inoue, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kiyoshi Kiyoyama and Yoshihumi Kitamura, “A Reconfigurable Mobile Head-Mounted Display Supporting Real World Interactions”. In Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Article 418, 1–7, May 2021. (poster)

遠藤勇，高嶋和毅，井上理哲人，清川清，藤田和之，北村 喜文．周辺とのアドホックなインタラクションを実現する再構成可能なVR HMD．情報処理学会インタラクション2021論文集，pp. 271-273, オンライン開催，2021年3月. (peer reviewed demo)