WACL: Supporting Telecommunications by Using a Wearable Active Camera with a Laser Pointer

We propose a wearable active camera with a laser pointer (WACL) as human interface devices and its application to telecommunication. The WACL has a laser pointer, which is attached to the active camera-head, and it can point laser beam with elevation and panning of the camera-head. In our system, when a worker wears the WACL, a remote instructor can observe around the worker independently of the worker's motion and can clearly and naturally instruct the worker in tasks by pointing laser beam at real objects. This paper describes an outline of a telecommunication support system using the WACL and a method of stabilizing the camera and the laser pointer independently of the wearer's motion. We have implemented and demonstrated an example of applications using our system.