Human Being, Robot Body: Do telepresence robot hiding human identity?

What is it about?

Telepresence robots can be thought of as a mobile video call (ie Zoom, Facetime). The person calling into the robot can use the robot's body to move around the space and interact with other people. You may have seen a telepresence robot in a TV-show, such as Big Bang Theory, Community, or Bob's Burgers. In the real world, telepresence robots are used in homes, schools, and workplaces. For example, immunocompromised students can use telepresence robots to remotely attend school and play with their peers, and doctors can use telepresence robots to treat patients living in remote areas. We know that telepresence robots can help people feel more socially connected and support remote work, but we don't know how telepresence robots change how people are perceived. For example, if your doctor was treating you through a telepresence robot, would you think they were a robot or an AI? Would a remote student be viewed as a full person by their peers, or treated as a robot friend? In this paper, we introduce the concept of Hybrid-Identity Expression, or HIdE, to explain how telepresence robots can change how people are perceived. Instead of being seen as fully themselves and human, remote telepresence users can be interpreted as "robotic" because they are communicating through a robot. HIdE can be thought of as how telepresence robots can "hide" the remote user.

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Photo by Enchanted Tools on Unsplash

Photo by Enchanted Tools on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This work is important because it introduces a new way to think about how we design, evaluate, and use telepresence robots. HIdE suggests that it is not enough for users to have the ability to have a physical presence in a remote space. They also need to be able to express their human identity. It is important that telepresence technologies designed to help people feel more connected accurately represent users.