Looking Glass

Looking Glass is a video mirror. Its display also captures the image of whoever looks into it. When that image is fed back to the display, one gets the sensation of looking at oneself in a mirror.

A mirror is a powerful thing. Looking at oneself in a mirror is to look directly into your own eyes and to face yourself directly. The eyes are often said to be windows into one's soul. In many cultures, it is considered offensive to look in another's eyes without permission or approval. Eye contact establishes rank within organizations. Eye contact is an incredibly powerful social element.

The simplest Looking Glass telepresence configuration requires two video mirrors cross-linked so that instead of seeing yourself, you see the other person looking directly into your eyes. It is a powerful and sometimes intimidating experience to look so intimately at another.

The display surface is also an active component - an electronic blackboard, on which either party can write or draw. The optics are carefully aligned so that when you point to a screen element, the other person see you point to precisely the "right" position. Thus, one can touch fingers, as if on opposite sides of a sheet of glass. My talk will include a video that captures the behavior of this unique Looking Glass system.