Vision-Mediated Interaction with the Nottingham Caves

摘要

The English city of Nottingham is widely known for its rich history and compelling folklore. A key attraction is the extensive system of caves to be found beneath Nottingham Castle. Regular guided tours are made of the Nottingham caves, during which castle staff tell stories and explain historical events to small groups of visitors while pointing out relevant cave locations and features. The work reported here is part of a project aimed at enhancing the experience of cave visitors, and providing flexible storytelling tools to their guides, by developing machine vision systems capable of identifying specific actions of guides and/or visitors and triggering audio and/or video presentations as a result. Attention is currently focused on triggering audio material by directing the beam of a standard domestic flashlight towards features of interest on the cave wall. Cameras attached to the walls or roof provide image sequences within which torch light and cave features are detected and their relative positions estimated. When a target feature is illuminated the corresponding audio response is generated. We describe the architecture of the system, its implementation within the caves and the results of initial evaluations carried out with castle guides and members of the public.