In case of dramatic means of communication such as an improvised drama, it is well-known that the existence and function of audiences are key to the endurance of a creative story. In order to achieve this dramatic communication between remote locations, this study aimed to design and develop a theater-type coexisting space in which drama players (actors) can be positioned while being accompanied by empathetic audiences. To this end, the Waseda Shadow Communication System (WSCS) was applied; it was previously developed by the present authors to create a feeling of coexistence that could be shared with remotely located people through the exchange of body shadows. Communication space in WSCS was divided into two components with a transparent screen and a shoji (Japanese paper) screen; to each screen, shadows of drama players and audiences were projected separately. The relative relationship of each position was matched and expressed, so that a theater-type communication system was established, which comprised audiences, drama players, and their mutual stage. The shadow expression method was further investigated for audiences freely entering and exiting the theater.

This paper proposes a method to navigate a mobile robot in human environment via an interaction through virtual 3D lines, which are handwritten in the air by a robot user who coexists with the robot. The objective of this navigation is to develop the flexible instruction of the appropriate route for a mobile robot in adaptation of various situations easily by embodied interaction between robots and users. The developed system was also integrated with the aerial 3D drawing interface and control system of robots. Mobile robots and a drawing hand position are measured by 6DOF sensors simultaneously in real time. The 3D drawing interface allows a user not only to draw 3D lines in the air based on the sensed position in the real world, but also to push, grasp and throw a drawn line manually on site. Each mobile robots are distinguished by an association with a color information of each drawn line, and search the own line in real time individually. Therefore, in this method, it was achieved that the user individually sets, and selects a specific route and change the route by drawing or manipulating lines while the robots are moving. We conducted some navigation experiments using two omni-wheel mobile robots and examined the aforementioned navigation function. Additionally, we tried some advanced navigation that can be achieved only by drawing, such as the dog-walking by likening a virtual line to string. As a result this method enables a user to instruct some complex path easily and change the root flexibly with interaction through virtual lines in response to changing environments.

This paper describes the collaborative augmented reality (AR) system with which multiple users can handwrite 3D lines in the air simultaneously and manipulate the lines directly in the real world. In addition, we propose a new technique for embodied communication utilizing the 3D drawing exercise. Up to now, the various 3D user interfaces have been proposed. Although most of them aim to solve the specific problems in the virtual environments, the possibility of the 3D drawing expression has not been explored yet. Accordingly, we paid special attention to the interaction with the real objects in daily life, and considered to manipulate real objects and 3D lines without any distinctions by the same action. The developed AR system consists of a head-mounted display, a drawing tool, 6DOF sensors, and the 3D user interface, which enables to push, grasp and pitch a 3D lines directly by use of the drawing tool. Additionally users can pick up desired color from either a landscape or a virtual line through the direct interaction with this tool. For sharing 3D lines among multiple users at the same place, the distributed-type AR system has been developed that mutually sends and receives drawn data between systems. With the developed system, users can proceed to design jointly in the real space through arranging each 3D drawing by direct manipulation. Moreover, a new application to the entertainment has become possible to play sports like catch, fencing match, or the like

Many shared-space communication systems have been proposed which support bodily actions, such as eye gaze and instruction, among remote people. However, the method to share a three-dimensional bodily action in physical space with remote people has not been explored sufficiently. In this paper, we propose a novel method of a shared-space communication to support to bridge over remote two tabletops visually and to share bodily action among remote people. To achieve this aim, a video image of remote tabletop is required to be shared with each other. A display and an interface are also needed for reflecting a remote bodily action in a local space consistently. Consequently, the front screen, on which a video image of a remote space including a tabletop is projected to connect tableside visually, is installed aslope on a table. We developed also a Virtual Extensible Tool Interface which supports visual interactions including pointing to and touching a physical object in remote space by representing virtual extensive tool to a remote space. Experiments on bodily interactions between local and remote people demonstrated that the extensible tool interface can support bodily interactions with a remote partner including instructing to a remote physical object in three dimensions. Moreover, the results indicate clearly that the participants felt as if they were touching the remote table. Thus, our system possesses a potential to support a remote co-creative communication including a physical interaction through tools, and it is promising.

To support cocreative communication between people who are in separate, remote locations, embodied communication (communication expressed through the physical body) is crucial, and a common place for communication should be established. This article proposes an idea to integrate remote physical places into a shared virtual space to bridge these remote places and to describe interface systems for cocreative communication. To show a typical example of cocreative communication with a high degree of freedom for bodily actions, this study focused on brick-building play, in which people are free to construct structures spatially with physical objects. For remote collaborative communication, including modeling with physical bricks at each physical place, two interface systems were designed: the brick-modeling interface system and the brick-reader glove interface system. The brick-modeling interface system makes it possible for users to act out others' brick plays with physical bricks in the remote places and in shared virtual space in real time. The brick-reader glove interface system enables users to act out the modeling process with virtual bricks and virtual avatars of both remote users in the shared virtual space. The experiment clearly suggests that these interface systems are useful for creating a shared virtual space and for supporting collaborative work in three dimensions with a sense that the remote people were together in the same place.

"Shadow Communication" system has been developed allowing others to communicate by means of their "shadows" in remote space. This is designed so that each participant's shadow enters into a space through a semi-transparent screen and interacts with another subject's shadow. This interaction occurs at a common 'stage' (a co-existing space) that can be self-organized. The interaction takes place in a spatial relationship ("ma"- perceptive distance or "Maai" in Japanese) and generates a situation where, seemingly, the participants are actually talking to each other in a face-to-face manner. Experiments on collaborative drawings or remote lecturing conducted with various subjects resulted in the different groups being properly positioned in their co-existing space, thus suggesting that the co-creative activities between the groups were successfully established.

For establishing a communicative atmosphere, each person's "Ba" should be integrated, so that "Maai" (spatial distance) can be created. In this research, the Kendo (Japanese fencing) match system using a Kendo robot (a video character) was employed to investigate the method for integrating each person's "Ba" in a telecommunication which utilizes a robot as an agent of self. Specifically, a dual expression of embodiment method was investigated to support the generation of "Ba" between remote places. The method is intended to position yourself in your own "Ba" and to establish a proper relationship between a remote partner and yourself therein. As an experimental result, it was proved that a non-separable relationship between yourself and your own avatar (Kendo robot) can be created by expressing a rhythmic robot-control signal ahead of the movement of the robot. Furthermore, it was found that a transmission of the rhythmic robot-control signal (an interval between zero-cross points) and representations of phase relationship (coherency) between each rhythmic robot control signal can support to generate "Maai" with a remote partner. It was found also that the 1/f fluctuation can be related to "Maai" generation. These findings provide us a design guideline for the telecommunication system using a robot as communication media.

Co-sharing the context among remote persons by current IT communication system is considered to require co-existing feeling or "Ba", which is generated by a bodily interaction in face-to-face communication. The paper shows development of four eye-ball robots and shows a communication supporting system using these eye-ball robots as a bodily media. All eye-ball robots can express bodily movement such as gaze direction blink and nod in real-time, in order to generate a feeling as if you were gazed at by a person Furthermore, the forth robot can transform facial outline and eye situation applying the remote person's physiological fluctuations such as respiration and cardiac beat provided. The communication experiment using second and third eye-ball robots as each remote person agent, shows subconscious bodily synchronization, or entertainment which is generated in smooth face-to-face communication through the robot's movement. In another experiment, using a forth eye-ball robot, the attention sharing between the robot and person facing the robot associated through the robot's movements Moreover, we found an expectation that the operator has a feeling of "get united with the remote robot" by seeing a pseudo-nose in the video image. All these findings suggest that an eye-ball robot can support electively telecommunication to a bodily media for generating co-existing feeling.

In a group communication, there is few researches conducted on a real-time measurement on a relationship between individuals and a relationship between an individual and a group to which the individual belongs, although these relationships are extremely important because they might provide basic knowledge on the mechanism of the co-creation. This paper discusses two topics relevant to the communication among plants; rhythmic motions of radicals in a group and the emergence process of clusters in trees in a natural forest. An investigation on a communication among plants which doesn't possess a brain nor a nerve system would provide a clue to examine a mechanism of a vital contact or communication between human and plants.