OctiCam: An immersive and mobile video communication device for parents and children

OctiCam is a mobile and child-friendly device that consists of a stuff ed 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.

Contact

Dennis Wolf

<link in mi institut mi-mitarbeiter jg>Jan Gugenheimer

<link in mi institut mi-mitarbeiter enrico-rukzio>Enrico Rukzio

Publication

Wolf, Dennis; Gugenheimer, Jan; Rukzio, Enrico OctiCam: An immersive and mobile video communication device for parents and children In Proc. of ISCT 2015 (1st International Symposium on Companion-Technology), 2015

DOI: 10.18725/OPARU-3252

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