Social Telepresence Robots: The role of gesture for collaboration over a distance

Abstract

In this position paper, we refer to the concept of telepresence and give an overview about current solutions that provide a sense of being in a different place. We focus on Mobile Robotic Telepresence and summarize arguments from literature regarding the importance of formal and informal gesture and body language for communication and collaboration. We argue that humanoid telepresence robots with a capability to express gestures could play an important role in teleworking and collaboration over a distance, which will gain importance in reducing the need for mobility and traffic. Based on current work in our research group on collaborative problem solving on tangible user interfaces, we sketch a scenario where avatar robots represent remote team members and mirror their actions, gaze and gestures. Our aim is to foster a discussion about technical and social questions related to the acceptance of avatar robots at work: which properties should such a robot have; to what extend is the current state of the art in social robotics applicable, and which additional components need to be developed in the future.