360Drops: Mixed Reality Remote Collaboration using 360 Panoramas within the 3D Scene*

Mixed Reality (MR) remote guidance has become a practical solution for collaboration that includes nonverbal communication. This research focuses on integrating different types of MR remote collaboration systems together allowing a new variety for remote collaboration to extend its features and user experience. In this demonstration, we present 360Drops, a MR remote collaboration system that uses 360 panorama images within 3D reconstructed scenes. We introduce a new technique to interact with multiple 360 Panorama Spheres in an immersive 3D reconstructed scene. This allows a remote user to switch between multiple 360 scenes “live/static, past/present,” placed in a 3D reconstructed scene to promote a better understanding of space and interactivity through verbal and nonverbal communication. We present the system features and user experience to the attendees of SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 through a live demonstration.