Mini-Me: An Adaptive Avatar for Mixed Reality Remote Collaboration

Thammathip Piumsomboon, Gun A. Lee, Jonathon D. Hart, Barrett Ens, Robert W. Lindeman, Bruce H. Thomas, Mark Billinghurst

Abstract: We present Mini-Me, an adaptive avatar for enhancing Mixed Reality (MR) remote collaboration between a local Augmented Reality (AR) user and a remote Virtual Reality (VR) user. The Mini-Me avatar represents the VR user's gaze direction and body gestures while it transforms in size and orientation to stay within the AR user's field of view. A user study was conducted to evaluate Mini-Me in two collaborative scenarios: an asymmetric remote expert in VR assisting a local worker in AR, and a symmetric collaboration in urban planning. We found that the presence of the Mini-Me significantly improved Social Presence and the overall experience of MR collaboration.