ePro: a system for supporting collaboration that enhances interactions

Many systems that support group activities utilize computer and network technologies so that people in different places or at different times can communicate with each other. In this paper, we propose a system called ePro for supporting face-to-face collaboration by integrating physical and virtual worlds. In order to enhance interactions among group members and raise their engagement, ePro connects a sensor-embedded board and a computer simulation. In our current implementation, ePro is used to discuss urban planning and environmental problems. Group members collaboratively construct a town by placing a piece, such as a house, on a sensor-embedded board (physical world). The computer simulation program automatically recognizes the arrangement of pieces on the board. It then visualizes environmental changes to the town on the board through simulations (virtual world). The visualization shown to the group members amplifies the interaction among them and gives them feedback for re-designing the town on the board. In order to evaluate the effects of supporting group activities by combining physical and virtual worlds, preliminary experiments with ePro were carried out