Design and Implementation of TeleAdvisor: a Projection-Based Augmented Reality System for Remote Collaboration

TeleAdvisor is a versatile projection-based augmented reality system designed for remote collaboration. It allows a remote expert to naturally guide a local user in need of assistance in carrying out physical tasks around real-world objects. The system consists of a small projector and two cameras mounted on top of a tele-operated robotic arm at the worker's side, and an interface to view the camera stream, control the point-of-view and gesture using projected annotations at the remote expert's side. TeleAdvisor provides a hands-free, mobile, low-cost solution that supports gesturing by the remote expert while minimizing the cognitive overhead of the local worker. We describe the challenges, design considerations and implementation details of the two phases of the TeleAdvisor prototype, as well as its evaluation and deployment at an industrial manufacturing center. We summarize our understandings from our experiences during the project and discuss the general implications for design of augmented reality remote collaboration systems.