Occupant Location and Gesture Estimation in Large-Scale Immersive Spaces

Large-scale immersive environments can convey a large amount of information to many participants simultaneously. When equipped with occupant-awareness, not only does the ability of the participants to interact with the environment increase dramatically, but also the environment’s understanding of its audience. Using ceiling-mounted timeof-flight distance sensors, we discuss how person tracking, body orientation estimation, and pointing gesture recognition can augment an immersive environment to become simultaneously aware of all its participants. The testbed for our exploration is a large circular space 12 m in diameter enclosed by a 360 degree display 4.3 meters high, which can comfortably house more than 30 people at a time. This large-scale occupant-aware immersive environment is an ideal space to simulate different “living lab” scenarios or conduct group behavioral studies.