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ARcall: Real-Time AR Communication using Smartphones and Smartglasses

Hemant Bhaskar Surale, Yu Jiang Tham, Brian A. Smith, Rajan Vaish
Event ISMAR 2021
Research Areas Human Computer Interaction

Augmented Reality (AR) smartglasses are increasingly regarded as the next generation personal computing platform. However, there is a lack of understanding about how to design communication systems using them. We present ARcall, a novel Augmented Reality-based real-time communication system that enables an immersive, delightful, and privacy-preserving experience between a smartphone user and a smartglasses wearer. ARcall allows a remote friend (Friend) to send and project AR content to a smartglasses wearer (Wearer). The ARcall system was designed with the practical limits of existing AR glasses in mind, including shorter battery life and a reduced field of view. We conduct a qualitative evaluation of the three main components of ARcall: Drop-In, ARaction, and Micro-Chat. Our results provide novel insights for building future AR-based communication methods, including, the importance of context priming, user control over AR content placement, and the feeling of co-presence while conversing.