Maintaining and Enhancing Human-Surrogate Presence in Augmented Reality

Abstract

We present some background and ideas related to a human's sense of presence with a human surrogate (a stand-in for a human) in an augmented reality (AR) setting. In particular we examine several factors related to human surrogates that are common to robotics, virtual reality, and augmented reality; and some challenges that are unique to AR. We then discuss the roles of surrogate characteristics and behaviors in maintaining and perhaps enhancing a sense of presence with a surrogate. We conclude by sharing some ideas for intentionally employing particular surrogate characteristics/behaviors that could simultaneously address the AR-specific challenges while maintaining and perhaps even enhancing the sense of co-presence/social presence with human surrogates in AR.