This research aims to explain the process that previous researchers have discussed concerning the consumer virtual experience, using three-dimensional (3D) product visualisations, within online retailers. In addition, this research aims to identify the main advantages of using 3D product visualisation in comparison to two-dimensional (2D) static pictures within online retailers. Moreover, using the online Stimulus-Organism-Responses (S-O-R) paradigm, this research aims to model the effect of 3D product visualisation on consumers’ perception and responses towards the online retailer environment. Given that the appearance of the notion of telepresence or presence and their implications on the online retailer, many scholars attempt to build and develop models that can suit these notions online. However, this thesis argues that the notion of 3D telepresence is not the proper terminology to be used within the online retail context and therefore, this research raises the following question “how do consumers perceive 3D product virtualisation (telepresence) compared with 3D product authenticity on online retailers’ websites?” The effects of 3D product visualisation and 2D static pictures have been raised during the past decade to determine which is better for the online consumers. Marketers and information system scholars started wondering about the best device that can generate hedonic and utilitarian values for the consumers. To investigate the main impact of 3D product visualisation and 2D static pictures on hedonic and utilitarian values, this research raises the following questions: How do consumers perceive 3D hedonic values compared with 2D hedonic values on online retailers’ website? How do consumers perceive 3D product visualisation utilitarian values compared with 2D utilitarian values on online retailers’ website? This thesis, based on the previous literature in interactivity and vividness, narrowed down the 3D authenticity antecedents to the control and animated colour constructs. Moreover, to determine the effect of the progressive levels of control and animated colour constructs on the 3D authenticity construct, it raises the following research question: How do different levels of 3D control and animated colours influence 3D authenticity? To determine the effects of the progressive levels of 3D hedonic and utilitarian values on behavioural intention construct, this thesis raises the following research question: How do different levels of 3D hedonic and utilitarian levels influence behavioural intentions? Based on the online S-O-R framework, previous studies investigate the impact of the whole website e-retail environment (many stimuli) on consumers’ responses. Yet, this is the first study that is using one stimulus, namely 3D laptop product visualisation to investigate its impacts on consumers’ perceptions and responses using the online S-OR paradigm. Therefore, this thesis raises the following research question: How do control, animated colours, 3D authenticity, hedonic and utilitarian values affect consumers’ behavioural intention? The results reveal significant differences between 3D telepresence and 3D authenticity constructs. 3D telepresence involves an illusion or a sense of being transported to another place, whereas 3D authenticity refers to the ability to imagine a virtual object as real. The 3D authenticity construct is more significant in simulating an online retailer’s products. The proposed online S-O-R conceptual model achieves acceptable fit and the hypothesised paths are all valid. This research adds to the marketing literature the notion of 3D authenticity and contributes a valid scale to measure that new variable. Moreover, it is the first study that connects and uses the antecedents of 3D authenticity (S), control and animated colours, to investigate their impact on 3D authenticity, hedonic and utilitarian values (O), and the impact of the Organism constructs (O) on behavioural intention (R). Furthermore, the final framework considers the first framework that has studied the impact of one stimulus using the online S-O-R framework on an electronic retailer website environment. Indeed, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, this is the first study that uses a UK sample to investigate the effects of an authentic 3D product visualisation in an electronic e-retailing industry (i.e., laptops).

Abstract Traditional telepresence systems are comprised of a person remotely controlling a robot in a hostile environment while receiving visual feedback from a camera mounted on the robot. While useful for a number of applications, this model is not particularly useful for everyday work applications. The size of the robot is intrusive, the robot needs to be designed for specific interactions and only one person can use the robot at any one time. This work seeks to address this problem by replacing the physical proxy with a virtual proxy. The purpose of this virtual proxy is to enhance the system by providing improved support for multiple users, interaction and navigation in the remote environment. This enhanced, or improved, version of telepresence is termed TeleReality as it combines elements of virtual reality with traditional telepresence technologies. To achieve this goal, the basic building blocks, or constructs, of traditional telepresence systems need to be changed. This thesis identifies and evaluates the base constructs needed to build any TeleReality system. These constructs include the need to support navigation of the remote environment and this is achieved by using a network of cameras and image processing software to calculate the various perspective viewpoints of the users. These constructs govern the means in which this collection of cameras are organised and connected. Each user receives a common set of video images from which they calculate their own perspective viewpoints, and consequently supporting a multi-user system. Interaction within the remote environment is promoted using ad-hoc networks and augmented reality technologies. Constructs also cover security and privacy issues that arise from using multiple cameras by adopting both an organisational and technological viewpoint. The focus is on establishing trust within the system by divesting control to the user. An example of these constructs is given by the implementation of a TeleReality model called a 'Visual Cell' system. The conclusion of this work identifies the constructs that are needed to support a telepresence system using a virtual proxy where the primary interaction framework is informational exchange, although physical interaction can also be supported depending upon the environmental support. This work also identifies the technical issues that require additional research for the implementation of a TeleReality system, from the need for improved image processing, video codec's, broadcast and ad-hoc security protocols, software architecture, registration and the availability of suitable head mounted displays.

This thesis involves systems for virtual presence in remote locations, a field referred to as telepresence. Recent image-based representations such as Google map's street view provide a familiar example. Several areas of research are open; such image-based representations are huge in size and the necessity to compress data efficiently for storage is inevitable. On the other hand, users are usually located in remote areas, and thus efficient transmission of the visual information is another issue of great importance. In this work, real-world images are used in preference to computer graphics representations, mainly due to the photorealism that they provide as well as to avoid the high computational cost required for simulating large-scale environments. The cubic format is selected for panoramas in this thesis. A major feature of the captured cubic-panoramic image datasets in this work is the assumption of static scenes, and major issues of the system are compression efficiency and random access for storage, as well as computational complexity for transmission upon remote users' requests. First, in order to enable smooth navigation across different view-points, a method for aligning cubic-panorama image datasets by using the geometry of the scene is proposed and tested. Feature detection and camera calibration are incorporated and unlike the existing method, which is limited to a pair of panoramas, our approach is applicable to datasets with a large number of panoramic images, with no need for extra numerical estimation. Second, the problem of cubic-panorama image dataset compression is addressed in a number of ways. Two state-of-the-art approaches, namely the standardized scheme of H.264 and a wavelet-based codec named Dirac, are used and compared for the application of virtual navigation in image based representations of real world environments. Different frame prediction structures and group of pictures lengths are investigated and compared for this new type of visual data. At this stage, based on the obtained results, an efficient prediction structure and bitstream syntax using features of the data as well as satisfying major requirements of the system are proposed. Third, we have proposed novel methods to address the important issue of disparity estimation. A client-server based scheme is assumed and a remote user is assumed to seek information at each navigation step. Considering the compression stage, a fast method that uses our previous work on the geometry of the scene as well as the proposed prediction structure together with the cubic format of panoramas is used to estimate disparity vectors efficiently. Considering the transmission stage, a new transcoding scheme is introduced and a number of different frame-format conversion scenarios are addressed towards the goal of free navigation. Different types of navigation scenarios including forward or backward navigation, as well as user pan, tilt, and zoom are addressed. In all the aforementioned cases, results are compared both visually through error images and videos as well as using the objective measures. Altogether free navigation within the captured panoramic image datasets will be facilitated using our work and it can be incorporated in state-of-the-art of emerging cubic-panorama image dataset compression/transmission schemes.

Musical instruments are not static, unchanging objects. They are, instead, things that materially evolve in symmetry with human practices. Alterations to an instrument's design often attend to its ergonomic or expressive capacity, but sometimes an innovator causes an entirely new instrument to arise. One such instrument is the Chapman Stick. This instrument's history is closely intertwined with global currents that have evolved into virtual, online scenes. Virtuality obfuscates embodiment, but the Stick's world, like any instrument's, is optimally related in intercorporeal exchanges. Stickists circumvent real and virtual obstacles to engage the Stick world. Using an organology informed by the work of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, this study examines how the Chapman Stick, as a material "thing," speaks in and through a virtual, representational environment.

Telepresence is one of the most promising collaboration tools, it allows companies to have meetings with colleagues and clients on the other side of the world giving the feeling that everyone is in the same room. This promising technology allows companies to cut costs, save time and reduce CO2 emission, using the best technology. However one of the biggest Telecom Operators presents disappointing sales figures for the Telepresence service. Through this paper the current state of Telepresence is reviewed, the reasons for not reaching the sales target, and some alternatives are proposed and analyzed. In a large company like TCO many projects are developing and running and there is a lack of focus and resources for all projects, then it is necessary to choose the right option which offers more possibilities to encourage the use of Telepresence within the industry. The resultant solution is Telepresence Public Rooms, after that economic feasibility analysis is performed, and a technique to choose the best location to install the service is done. Finally, a rank of the most suitable cities to install the Public Rooms is presented in the company of other recommendation. In the future this study can be improved with an algorithm with variable costs and revenues for each candidate city, and adding the direct benefit in the sales of Telepresence rooms, brand awareness, synergies with the vendors, and use economies of scale to offer a better service with a lower cost. / INDEK 2011:82

Digital twins in manufacturing, logistics, retail, and healthcare can help companies makebusiness decisions by simulating changes prior to implementing such changes in real life.In robotic teleoperation, virtual reality technology such as head mounted displays canincrease operator performance. In the mining equipment industry, teleoperation is quitean established concept, using a video feed for visualization, and often similiar or the samecontrol panels as on the real machine. However, cameras don’t provide depth perceptionfor the operator, and the lighting conditions in a mine may make photogrammetry a lessthan ideal solution. Epiroc is currently working on a digital twin simulation softwarein Unity, which could be extended for teleoperation purposes. As a complement to thissoftware, a fast, high-definition Ouster OS0-128 LiDAR was used to render a point cloudof a physical environment. A Unity GameObject script was written in C# that receivesand renders coordinates as a point cloud. Two Python scripts were written to convert theLiDAR data using the Ouster SDK to coordinates, and then sending these coordinates overa TCP connection, either on the same machine, or over Wi-Fi. The Python scripts used twodifferent data formats, and the performance difference between these two data formatswas compared. The results indicated that Wi-Fi transfer of LiDAR data could be a viablesolution to continously scanning the surrounding area of equipment being teleoperatedwith quite a low delay and latency

Telepresence describes technologies that allow users to remotely experience the sensation of being present at an event without being physically present. An avatar exists to represent the user whilst in a remote location and is tasked to collect stimuli from its immediate surroundings to be delivered to the user for consumption. With the advent of recent developments in Virtual Reality technology, viz., head-mounted displays (HMDs), new possibilities have been enabled in the field of Telepresence. The main focus of this thesis is to develop a solution for visual Telepresence, where an HMD is used to control the direction of a camera‟s viewpoint, such that the user‟s head is tracked by the avatar, while providing visual feedback to the user. The design and development of the device follows a mechatronic approach, where a real time operating system (RTOS) is used in conjunction with a microcontroller for mechanical actuator control. The first-generation prototype, HOG-1 (HMD-Operated Gimbal, rev. 1), developed for this thesis serves as a foundation for study; the implementation and analysis of the prototype contributes to the state of the art by providing a clearer glimpse of hardware and software requirements that are necessary to construct an improved model. Additionally, qualitative and quantitative measurements are developed in the process of this research.

Background: Telepresence robots provide real-time audio, video, and mobility features, allowing faculty and students to engage in learning experiences without being physically present. Problem: With multiple students and faculty members needing to quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a flexible learning environment was essential. Approach: The telepresence robots were used as an innovative approach for both faculty and students to engage in learning experiences offered in a variety of settings. Outcome: Feedback was obtained from faculty and students about the use of and satisfaction with telepresence robots. The robots were easy to use and posed only a few technological challenges, which were easily overcome. Conclusions: Telepresence robots were effective tools in overcoming teaching and learning barriers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The telepresence robots have many applications, including use in clinical and community settings.

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