Tele-immersion technology is based on multiple stereoscopic viewing in different geographic locations. Clusters of two or more cameras on each location record movements of people and objects and computers then reconstruct combined 3D virtual reality. People can see themselves and their virtual partners moving and interacting with each other in real time.

A major component of tele-immersive systems deals with the practical tasks of cloning the real world and making it available in the virtual reality environment. Tele-immersion connects remote places through a shared virtual environment.

Potential applications for tele-immersion include:

• interactive art, joint dance or musical performance
• distributed, interactive education, decision support
• mentor/trainee remote interaction (e.g. sports, manufacturing, assembly)
• entertainment and gaming; immersive interaction with intelligent environments in movies and games
• social networking and understanding of complex 3D group behavior
• earth sciences and medical diagnosis and therapy

The main goals of our work are to design and build a portable, re-configurable and inexpensive tele-immersive system from commercial off-the-shelf components to provide real-time 3D reconstruction and fusion of multiple, dynamic, physically separated environments for interactive collaborations.

Tele-immersion and other 3D techniques: The area that distinguishes tele-immersion from traditional "virtual reality" is that, instead of the artificially constructed objects (or avatars) used in VR, real world objects are captured in real-time and subsequently rendered in the virtual environment. Another 3D technique, holographic video might be the ultimate solution for viewing real scenes however it is in the stage of "moving 3D images". Technique based on capturing of interference pattern of the direct light and the light scattered of the object faces two major obstacles namely processing of enormous quantity of data and the fact that holographic display requires many orders of magnitude hiher resolution than that of high-definition TV.

Remote Dance, TEEVE

Joined performance of dancers from two remote sites, UC Berkeley and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The live performance took place on Dec 8, 2006:

Snapshots of real-time interaction of dancers from UIUC and UC Berkeley in a tele- immersive environment.

Wheelchair Basketball Coaching

PHYSNET project: Physical Interaction Using the Internet: The Virtual Coach Intervention

In full tele-immersive environment, the learning of shooting techniques and training (hook pass, figure eight dribble, one-on-one defense) will involve very limited co-action with other players to minimize the likelihood of injuries, and all such will be closely supervised remotely by the coach. We colaborate with Mike Frogley, a headcoach of men's and women's basketball teams at the University of Illinois.

Technical improvemnet: Integration of thermal infrared and visible cameras in order to enhance sensitivity to scene illumination (shadows and reflected light), dynamic background or clothes with no texture.

Tele-immersion studio at NCSA is being connected to the CS department at UIUC. Shared virtual environment of the two basketball players.

Groupscope: Instrumenting Research on Interaction Networks in Complex Social Contexts

Groupscope brings together 11 investigators from eight campus units and five colleges who propose to develop technologies to understand social interactions with a fidelity that enables break through social research. The project will employ advanced computing applications and technologies to capture, annotate, and analyze group interaction networks in complex social contexts. These technologies will address a major challenge faced by researchers studying the socio-economic consequences of decisions made by individuals acting in groups - the inability to collect high resolution, high quality, high volume interaction network data necessary to test and extend the science of group interaction networks. This complex methodology will implement sophisticated never-before-used models for interaction analysis which will enable researchers to contribute significant theoretical insights and practical applications in diverse yet socially significant areas such as disaster response and adolescent deviancy.