Posted on 12/23/2006 11:31:23 AM PST by BibleBabe1
Bob,
I’m loving the story, I’m involved, aamof, but,
You lost me here.....
Mr. Martin relaxed. In a few minutes, he would be able to sit down on his stool, and stare at the reservation screen. Then he would stick out his tongue at it.
The avatar was not programmed to respond to that. His tongue would contact a switch that hovered in front of his face, and disconnect him from “Mr. Martin.” Butch was looking forward to it. Getting the helmet off so he could scratch his thinning hair was one of the forbidden pleasures of his job.
Of course, he could always hit the “Just-a-moment” switch, and get back into costume in about three seconds if someone approached the counter. All in all, it wasn’t such a bad job.
He didn’t even have to leave his apartment.
I was indicating that “Mr. Martin” was actually an avatar, a robot, operated by the presumably much more unkempt “Butch”.
When Butch wasn’t dealing with customers, he could relax, grab a drink, scratch his itches, and so forth, while his avatar stared intently, and mindlessly, at a computer screen.
Yesbut... we don’t have the bandwidth today...
Gosh, sounds like my meetings already!
I think we could use compression techniques to get the necessary immersion.
Vision is the big one, this would require stereo.
All of the physical sensations could probably be mapped into a visual analog. As such then, the bandwidth would be three visual channels.
It’s do-able, though expensive. Remember though that it’s a substitute for air travel.
I don’t think compression will get you too far. As soon as the video becomes distinguishable from reality it becomes artificial (in the newer, more modern sense of the word).
You’d be surprised. The immersion can be quite realistic because of our willingness to cooperate, just as in the movies.
I would predict, if such a thing ever did “take off”, the information would be carried on optical tranmission lines. I’d guess one could put a thousand “visits” on one line.
That would make it very competitive with air travel.
First class, of course, would mean you’d have the ability to read through your avatar’s eyes; (Necessary for a business meeting.)
Yes, we were Dragooned! by a lovely lady in her 70’s, who lived in Spain from 1960 to 2000. My husband plays the guitar, Bill plays the drum, and I sing, in Spanish, with a nice Texican accent that disguises the fact that I don’t remember how to say anything except, “Hi, howaya?” and “Where is the bathroom.”
We’re hoping to recruit a real Spanish speaker, but it hasn’t happened yet. The local Hispanics are mostly economically marginal, which means they work a lot of hours and have trouble committing to church events. At least they’re coming on Sunday, though, and bringing the kids.
That part, I don't think so, or only in part. Reading is obviously necessary for business meetings, but in my experience reading and observing others (their current focus of attention, their expressions, body language, etc) is also important.
In my meetings, "reading" is usually performed on a document in the laptop in front of me (and finally I have a corporate laptop that doesn't "hide" other participants behind its over-tall screen). Once in a long while it's something projected on a screen (which I dislike).
When it comes to discussion I strongly prefer to see my counterparts' faces because there's a LOT of feedback there even when they're silent. In my last face-to-face meeting, one participant was extremely concerned about a particular issue before us; voice communications would have conveyed some of his concern, but body language conveyed even more.
I know I’ve only used allusions in place of actual descriptions, but I can provide descriptions too.
Modern motion capture techniques require only a few set points to devine the facial contortion being displayed. They don’t need to have special markers placed in order to make the reading.
So, if you’re wearing a mask-that-is-watching-your-face, it can output information to an avatar mask that displays the information. Your avatar, which is a three-dimensional mask that looks like you, will also wear your expressions in real time.
The motions of your eyes will be repeated in the optical devices of the avatar. While you will be seeing what the avatar looks at, those observing the avatar will be seeing your reactions to the things you see.
The rest of the avatar will function in a similar fashion. Your subtle twitch of shoulder, or gentle opening of the hand, while not conclusively meaningful, will be faithfully reproduced to be interpreted by your hosts and avatar witnesses.
This sounds very high-tech, but in reality, teleoperation is a relatively simple task to perform. We’ve been doing it for years with game devices. When you don your avatar control suit, you automatically will be controlling the strain gauges and measurement devices built into the suit.
By simply moving your arm, you cause the avatar to mimic your motion. Since you are looking out of the eyes of the avatar, you will see the avatar’s arm move as you move your own. In a matter of moments it would become second nature.
Interacting with others would surely be interesting. One of the first things you might do is to try to determine which of the individuals you are seeing through your avatar’s eyes is really there, and which are also avatars.
And if that isn’t really obvious, then you’ll know that your meeting should be able to work very well.
Good Night!
Last Post?
Good morning!
*Yawn ...*
Coffee ....
Diet Coke and pretzels. It’s already lunch time!
Oh, I’ve been up. Tending to the pets, doing laundry, cleaning up messes ...
But I don’t have to be awake to do that, and I prefer not to be.
So ... Coffee. And then I can say, “Hey, this is a nice morning!”
Sip ...
That reminds me, I have wash to sort! And probably more to wash, now that the running group is home.
Anoreth is at the library taking the ACT.
Luck to her! I hope she has fun.
Gets her out of the house for a few hours, at least.
Did you get enough rain?
No, we probably need another 10-12” to approach “enough.” But at least it’s an improvement over continuing drought.
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