Social Tele-embodiment: Understanding Presence

Eric Paulos
UC Berkeley, Computer Science
paulos@cs.berkeley.edu

Seminar on People, Computers, and Design
Stanford University March 10, 2000

Current computer mediated communication tools such email, chat, and videoconferencing have increased our social tele-connectivity. They allow us to exchange text, images, sound, and video with anyone whose interests we share, professionally or socially, regardless of geographic location. But for many applications something important is still missing. Existing tools fail to provide us with an adequate interface into the real world in which we live, work, and play. This talk will describe one such approach towards solving this problem with simple, inexpensive, internet-controlled, untethered tele-robots or PRoPs (Personal Roving Presences). PRoPs strive to provide the sensation of tele-embodiment in a remote real space. The physical tele-robot provides several verbal and non-verbal communication cues including: audio, video, mobility, directed gaze, proxemics, and simple gesturing. PRoPs also enable their users to perform a wide gamut of human activities in the remote space, such as wander around, explore, converse with people, and hang out.

For more information please visit www.prop.org.

Eric Paulos is a PhD graduate student in Computer Science at UC Berkeley. His research interests revolve around mediated human communication and interaction, particularly internet based personal telepresence. His focus is on the physical, aural, visual, and gestural interactions between humans and machines and various permutations of those interactions. He has developed numerous internet based tele-operated robots since 1995 when he implemented Mechanical Gaze. Subsequently he designed several small human-sized Space Browsing helium filled tele-operated blimps, the first tele-operated laboratory, and ground based Personal Roving Presence (PRoP) devices that attempt to provide remote tele-embodiment -- the ability of a user to explore, communicate, and interact freely within a remote space. He expects to complete his PhD this Fall.

 

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