Development of remote automatic panorama VR imaging rig systems using smartphones

Using existing virtual reality (VR) panorama systems to take panorama VR photos is a lengthy and inconvenient process involving the use of many photos. To relieve such inconvenience, this paper was researched and developed VR panorama rig systems that will enable automatic imaging through smartphone control. The X-axis and Y-axis rotations of the VR panorama rig system were automated through the control of two stepping motors, one attached to the X-axis, and the other attached to the Y-axis. In addition, for the imaging using smartphones, a method was proposed that would enable remote automatic imaging through shutter release by the micro controller and camera installed in the VR panorama rig system. Using the proposed system, an imaging time of 30 min in total can be reduced to 5 min with automatic rotation and automatic imaging. Through experiments, it was verified that the proposed method improve the accuracy of rotation angles and shorten imaging time during panorama VR imaging. In addition, the proposed method remarkably improved the efficiency of the entire process by substantially reducing the panorama stitching process, which requires large amounts of time and work and new organizing tools, so that most processes can progress automatically.