3D visualization for Intelligent Space: Time-delay compensation in a remote controlled environment

By virtually re-creating and visualizing an intelligent space (iSpace) geographically far from the original version, one opens up the possibility of remote control and interaction between the real iSpace and the virtual copy. Here we present the required components for such a mixed environment: the actual iSpace in a form of a laboratory built for such experiments, the stereoscopic (real 3D) visualization tool at the far end to reproduce the original iSpace, and the middleware embodied by the computer network that connects the two. To remotely operate in the iSpace one has to overcome the important problem of synchronization that is made difficult by the time delay in the computer network. Here we present our first approach to solve this problem by demonstrating a successful remote control of a mobile robot in this mixed environment.