Small cylindrical display for anthropomorphic agents

This paper describes a small cylindrical display for an anthropomorphic agent that communicates with users in a three-dimensional (3D) environment. Conventional displays for anthropomorphic agents are designed for a single user or a fixed viewing direction. We suggest a new small cylindrical display that is visible from the outside in any direction. Image data for the projector is calculated by the image-warping method. Light emitted from the image projector is reflected by a spherical mirror and projected on the inside of the rear of the cylindrical screen. This cylindrical display enables 3D agent actions, such as head turning. We evaluated our display by measuring pixel brightness in different situations. We demonstrate an application of anthropomorphic agents and a telecommunications system using omnidirectional images.