Annica Kristoffersson

A review of mobile robotic telepresence

Mobile robotic telepresence (MRP) systems incorporate video conferencing equipment onto mobile robot devices which can be steered from remote locations. These systems, which are primarily used in the context of promoting social interaction between people, are becoming increasingly popular within certain application domains such as health care environments, independent living for the elderly, and office environments. In this paper, an overview of the various systems, application areas, and challenges found in the literature concerning mobile robotic telepresence is provided. The survey also proposes a set terminology for the field as there is currently a lack of standard terms for the different concepts related to MRP systems. Further, this paper provides an outlook on the various research directions for developing and enhancing mobile robotic telepresence systems per se, as well as evaluating the interaction in laboratory and field settings. Finally, the survey outlines a number of design implications for the future of mobile robotic telepresence systems for social interaction.

Measuring the Quality of Interaction in Mobile Robotic Telepresence: A Pilot’s Perspective

This article presents a method for measuring the quality of interaction in social mobile robotic telepresence. The methodology is in part based on Adam Kendon’s theory of F-formations. The theory is based on observations of how bodies naturally orient themselves during interaction between people in real life settings. In addition, two presence questionnaires (Temple Presence Inventory and Networked Minds Social Presence Inventory), designed to measure the users’ perceptions of others and the environment when experienced through a communication medium are used. The perceived presence and ease of use are correlated to the spatial formations between the robot and an actor. The proposed methodology is validated experimentally on a dataset consisting of interactions between an elder (actor) and 21 different users being trained in piloting a mobile robotic telepresence unit. The evaluation has shown that these tools are suitable for evaluating mobile robotic telepresence and also that correlations between the tools used exist. Further, these results give important guidelines on how to improve the interface in order to increase the quality of interaction.

An Exploratory Study of Health Professionals' Attitudes about Robotic Telepresence Technology

This article presents the results from a video-based evaluation study of a social robotic telepresence solution for elderly. The evaluated system is a mobile teleoperated robot called Giraff that allows caregivers to virtually enter a home and conduct a natural visit just as if they were physically there. The evaluation focuses on the perspectives from primary healthcare organizations and collects the feedback from different categories of health professionals. The evaluation included 150 participants and yielded unexpected results with respect to the acceptance of the Giraff system. In particular, greater exposure to technology did not necessarily increase acceptance and large variances occurred between the categories of health professionals. In addition to outlining the results, this study provides a number of indications with respect to increasing acceptance for technology for elderly.

The effect of field of view on social interaction in mobile robotic telepresence systems

One goal of mobile robotic telepresence for social interaction is to design robotic units that are easy to operate for novice users and promote good interaction between people.This paper presents an exploratory study on the effect of camera orientation and field of view on the interaction between a remote and local user.Our findings suggest that limiting the width of the field of view can lead to better interaction quality as it encourages remote users to orient the robot towards local users. Categories and Subject Descriptors I.2.9 [Robotics]: Commercial robots and applications; H.5.2 [User interfaces]: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

Sense of presence in a robotic telepresence domain

Robotic telepresence offers a means to connect to a remote location via traditional telepresence with the added value of moving and actuating in that location. Recently, there has been a growing focus on the use of robotic telepresence to enhance social interaction among elderly. However for such technology to be accepted it is likely that the experienced presence when using such a system will be important. In this paper, we present results obtained from a training session with a robotic telepresence system when used for the first time by healthcare personnel. The study was quantitative and based on two standard questionnaires used for presence namely, the Temple Presence Inventory (TPI) and the Networked Minds Social Presence Intentory. The study showed that overall the sense of social richness as perceived by the users was high. The users also had a realistic feeling regarding their spatial presence.

An Ontology-based Context-aware System for Smart Homes: E-care@home

Smart home environments have a significant potential to provide for long-term monitoring of users with special needs in order to promote the possibility to age at home. Such environments are typically equipped with a number of heterogeneous sensors that monitor both health and environmental parameters. This paper presents a framework called E-care@home, consisting of an IoT infrastructure, which provides information with an unambiguous, shared meaning across IoT devices, end-users, relatives, health and care professionals and organizations. We focus on integrating measurements gathered from heterogeneous sources by using ontologies in order to enable semantic interpretation of events and context awareness. Activities are deduced using an incremental answer set solver for stream reasoning. The paper demonstrates the proposed framework using an instantiation of a smart environment that is able to perform context recognition based on the activities and the events occurring in the home.

Towards Measuring Quality of Interaction in Mobile Robotic Telepresence using Sociometric Badges

Abstract The field of mobile robotic telepresence for social communication is in rapid expansion and it is of interest to understand what promotes good interaction. In this paper, we present the results of an experiment where novice users working in health care were given a guided tour while maneuvering a mobile robotic telepresence system for the first time. In a previous study, it was found that subjective presence questionnaires and observations of spatial configurations based on Kendon’s F-formations were useful to evaluate quality of interaction in mobile robotic telepresence. In an effort to find more automated methods to assess the quality of interaction, the study in this paper used the same measures, with the addition of objective sociometric measures. Experimental results show that the quantitative analysis of the sociometric data correlates with a number of parameters gathered via qualitative analysis, e.g. different dimensions of presence and observed problems in maneuvering the robot.

Social robotic telepresence

Robotic telepresence, also known as telerobotics is a subfield of telepresence whose aim is to increase presence via embodiment in a robotic platform. In particular, robotic telepresence can be an effective tool to enhance social interaction suited to certain groups of users such as the elderly. The aim of this workshop is to address various aspects important for social robotic telepresence which include but are not limited to, (1) the mechanical design, (2) the user interface design, (3) the interaction between the remotely embodied person and the locally embodied person and (4) the perception of social robotic telepresence systems. Furthermore, we are interested in discovering the added value of spatial presence in the context of social telepresence and comparisons between robotic and nonrobotic systems are of interest. We welcome contributions concerning results reached from the above mentioned areas of interest, user evaluation and methodologies, as well as reports from the deployment of social robotic solutions into real world contexts.

The Future of Robotic Telepresence: Visions, Opportunities and Challenges

This panel will bring together experts on robotic telepresence from HCI and related fields. Panelists will engage the audience in a discussion of visions, opportunities and challenges for the future of telepresence robots.

Excite project: A review of forty-two months of robotic telepresence technology evolution

This article reports on the EU project ExCITE with specific focus on the technical development of the telepresence platform over a period of 42 months. The aim of the project was to assess the robustness and validity of the mobile robotic telepresence (MRP) system Giraff as a means to support elderly people and to foster their social interaction and participation. Embracing the idea of user-centered product refinement, the robot was tested over long periods of time in real homes. As such, the system development was driven by a strong involvement of elderly people and their caregivers but also by technical challenges associated with deploying the robot in real-world contexts. The results of the 42-months’ long evaluation is a system suitable for use in homes rather than a generic system suitable, for example, in office environments.