CompoundDome: A wearable dome device that enables interaction with the real world by controlling the transparency of the screen

The head-mounted display (HMD) is widely used as a method to experience virtual space. However, HMD has problems in mounting, such as skin touching the equipment used by others, functional issues such as easy to induce VR sickness. In this research, we propose a wearable dome device named "CompoundDome", which enables interaction with the real world by projecting images on the dome. In our system, we used a 600 mm diameter dome, and a projector projects images to the dome to cover the wearer's field of view. With this configuration, the equipment does not touch the skin, and motion sickness can be reduced. HMD also lacks in providing face-to-face communication, because it hides user's face. In addition, the wearer can not see the outside when wearing the HMD. Hence, we applied screen paint to the transparent dome in a mesh form. With this configuration, users can see the image when the image is projected, and they can see the outside of the dome when the image is not projected. Furthermore, users and the surrounding people can make face to face communication by photographing the face with the camera installed in the dome and projecting the face in the virtual space. In this paper, we describe the composition of CompoundDome, in comparison with other virtual space presentation means, and various applications enabled by CompoundDome.