Design of a Lightweight, Ergonomic Manipulator for Enabling Expressive Gesturing in Telepresence Robots

摘要

Recent research on telepresence robots demonstrates that while they enable new heights of remote communication, there still exists challenges for both local and remote users in creating a connectedness one only encounters in face-to-face interactions. A large part of communication is beyond hearing and vision. Tangible interactions, expressive gestures, and physical referencing represent three of the primary social behaviors missing in the current telepresence experience. There is an inherent, subconscious quality to these physical actions that has been shown to allow more expressive and engaging communication. In this project we present the design, fabrication, and initial performance validation of a lightweight, ergonomic manipulator with a heavy, anthropomorphic end effector that enables gesturing capabilities for telepresence interactions.