Exploring the Kuroko Paradigm: The Effect of Enhancing Virtual Humans with Reality Actuators in Augmented Reality

This study explores the value of using virtual humans (VHs) to mask real entities within augmented reality (AR) interactive environments. We believe that one ultimate solution to bridge the gap between virtual and real worlds is to enable virtual entities to interact with the real world seamlessly and physically. However, unlike major approaches such as displaying haptics directly onto real users, letting virtual entities affect the real world physically is an underrepresented field in AR. To explore this approach, we employ reality actuators, here a robot arm, behind an AR VH as it may improve the sense of social presence and engagement in human-robot interaction systems. We developed an AR system where a VH is overlaid onto a robotic arm participating in a chess game. The preliminary results of our pilot study suggest the system's significant potential to not only enhance the perceived social presence of VHs but also increase overall presence and user engagement, especially compared to situations where the mechanisms are visible without virtual concealment. We hope this work paves the way for more seamless reality experience between real and virtual worlds.