i-ball 2: An Interaction Platform with a Crystal-Ball-Like Display for Multiple Users

The authors’ aim in this work is to develop an easy-to-use computer-human interaction (CHI) platform. In this paper, i-ball 2 (interactive/information ball 2) is introduced as an attempt at the aim. i-ball 2 is a display-based interaction platform and designed to provide various interactive experiences, based on the concept of i-ball (an interactive display system which the authors’ group has developed). i-ball 2’s characteristics are: Firstly, the image is displayed with special optical system as if it were floating in the ball which is equipped in the i-ball 2 system. Secondly, up to two users can participate in interactive experiences (each user has his/her own display system). And lastly, i-ball 2 has various input interfaces and potential for various interactive applications. In this paper, the applications implemented on i-ball 2 are introduced: 3-D CG object viewer, QuickTime VR object movie viewer, interaction with the robot, i-ball 2 game controller and simplified telexistence (videoconference) system. Through these applications, i-ball 2 appears to have high potential as a CHI and communication platform.