Personalizable embodied telepresence system for remote interpersonal communication

Abstract

Recent advances in human-robot interaction have enhanced the ability of robots to act as a mediator in remote communication. However, embodied expressive communication across distance is not supported by the current technology. Physical body is a powerful conduit for affective communication, and thus mediating properties of the physical body through an agent has been proposed to address this deficiency. In this paper, we offer heuristic justification on vision of embodied interfaces by adopting perspectives from social psychology in the context of mediated interpersonal communication. Based on our studies, we created a pair of robots named “Mini-Surrogate” as a personalized telecommunication medium which recreates and emulates the physical presence of a specific person. It applies the concepts of enclothed and embodied cognition to convey the illusion of a particular person's presence. Through minimal prototyping in terms of surrogate behaviors, we explored desired nonverbal cues by remotely located couples to satisfy their communication needs while being apart. Our exploratory study pointed to the acceptance of prototyped medium and showed that personalization could enhance communication affectivity in terms of providing awareness and reminding of the specific person. We realized the desired nonverbal cues that helped remote couples to perceive the interface as their remote partner. The findings contribute towards user experience, communication and robotic researchers to enhance the quality of telecommunication for remote couples.