3D symbiotic environment for agent-aided collaborative work

Recently, collaborative work environments using Augmented Reality is expected to realize effective collaborative works. However, these environments have some limitations. One of the limitations is the restricted availability of devices. Devices which have no ability of the real-space information sensing cannot be used for these environments. Another limitation is low usability. It is difficult for novice computer users to utilize these environments, because these environments are specifically designed for computer professionals. To overcome these limitations, we propose a construction scheme of 3D symbiotic environment. 3D symbiotic environment is a collaborative work environment which is based on the concept of symbiosis between the real space and digital spaces. 3D symbiotic environment enables users to do collaborative works intuitively as if virtual spaces are integrated with the real space. First, we present the fundamental technologies for 3D symbiotic environment. Next, we show the design and implementation of the prototype system which includes collaborative work supporting agents. Finally, we confirmed the feasibility of 3D symbiotic environment with experimental results of the prototype system.