OctiCam is a mobile and child-friendly device that consists of a stuffed toy octopus on the outside and a communication proxy on the inside. Relying only on two squeeze buttons in the tentacles, we simplied the interaction with OctiCam to a child-friendly level. A build-in microphone and speaker allows audio chats while a build-in camera streams a 360 degree video using a fish-eye lens. The second chat partner uses a notebook to connect to OctiCam and initiate a call. Through an Oculus Rift HMD as a viewing device, the user can "take a look around" in real-time by watching the unwrapped video feed. The current gaze direction of the Oculus Rift HMD is then displayed as a pair of eyes on a ring of LED matrices beneath OctiCam's soft shell. We argue that this concept allows a more immersive exploration of the proxy's surroundings than a pan/tilt camera setup.

< Back to projects