Exploring the Relationship Between Physical Presence, User Experience, and Task Parameters in Robotic Telepresence

This paper reports a study of pilots of a robotic telepresence system, exploring the relationship between the pilots’ experience of physical presence, overall user experience, and task parameters. The pilots (N=12) performed a set of tasks characterized by different Task Focus (Process vs. Outcome) and Navigation Difficulty (Low vs. High); their experience was assessed by using a set of subjective rating scales. It was found that the experience of being physically present in a remote location positively correlated with self-reported gaming skills, objective indicators of navigation efficiency, as well as feelings of being safe and relaxed. No significant effects of task focus and navigation difficulty were found.