eyemR-Vis: Using Bi-Directional Gaze Behavioural Cues to Improve Mixed Reality Remote Collaboration

Gaze is one of the most important communication cues in face-to-face collaboration. However, in remote collaboration, sharing dynamic gaze information is more difficult. In this research, we investigate how sharing gaze behavioural cues can improve remote collaboration in a Mixed Reality (MR) environment. To do this, we developed eyemR-Vis, a 360 panoramic Mixed Reality remote collaboration system that shows gaze behavioural cues as bi-directional spatial virtual visualisations shared between a local host and a remote collaborator. Preliminary results from an exploratory study indicate that using virtual cues to visualise gaze behaviour has the potential to increase co-presence, improve gaze awareness, encourage collaboration, and is inclined to be less physically demanding or mentally distracting.