Extending Telepresence Technology as a Middle Stage between Humans to AI Robots Transition in the Workplace of the Future

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of extending the telepresence technology (TP) in the way of physical interactions. Related work in the field was based on four years operation of National telepresence infrastructure to support research, development and technology transfer in Slovakia (NTI), where the need of extended collaborative features was identified. In our research we described a new way of human remote-control interfaces working with telepresence technology based on VR and hand or body sensors. At the other hand we proposed the telepresence endpoint’s extensions design inspired by robotics elements such as robotic arms or humanoid robotic shells with face projection. The extended telepresence communication protocols were introduced. Multiple use case scenarios of extended telepresence technology were described in the way which will lead to the new approached in research in the field. Paper should be considered as a summary introduction to the problematics of extending the telepresence technology and each proposed concept will be described in more details in separate following manuscripts.