ExpressiveWorld: Detachable Expressions for VR Collaboration

VR collaboration enables users to express their emotions through visual cues. Although various techniques for representing emotions have been proposed, the impact of different representation locations on their effectiveness remains unclear. This research investigates how reprojecting a collaborator’s emotions to various locations can enhance the reception of affective cues in VR collaboration. We introduce ExpressiveWorld, a customizable collaborative space that allows VR users to configure both the type and location of their partner’s emotion representations. Our system provides four representations methods: 3D head models, emojis, visual effects, and vibrotactile feedback, representing five distinct emotions: Neutral, Happy, Angry, Sad, and Surprised. These representations can be reprojected onto the user’s or partner’s hand and task objects within the VR environment. With the ability to customize their emotional representations and positions on or off independently, users can create up to 84 different configurations. This flexibility helps VR users maintain focus on tasks while achieving emotional understanding and consensus with their partners.