A virtual space action communication system for bunraku

The authors describe the application of an action communication system to bunraku, a traditional Japanese puppet play. The proposed system uses virtual space in real time to let people at distant locations play bunraku together through a telephone line. In this system, the same stages are prepared at distant locations: a puppeteer and a robot are at each location, and they control the puppets. If a human puppeteer controls the puppet at the one place, the sensors detect the puppet´s movement, and this data is sent to the other place. In the other place, the puppet´s action is reproduced in real-time by the robot according to the received data. The puppeteer looks at the puppet controlled by the robot and responds by controlling his puppet. By repeating the above process, two puppeteers can play bunraku together with virtual reality. In real-time through a telephone line. Since the system´s output is actually moving an object (the robot), it looks much more realistic than a CRT image display